Pandora Hearts Hospital
by XxHella-ChanxX
Summary: (AU) At The Pandora Hearts Hospital's "Out Reach Program" we work together to provide better care and tools necessary to help the patient recover and increase their self-esteem, help them realize their responsibilities and help them realize that they DO NOT need to turn to drugs or alcohol for their problems. "We unite to do right." So why is Oz Vessalius a patient exactly? GilXOz
1. Hospital

_~ Pandora Hearts Hospital ~_

Chapter 1: Hospital.

August 5th, 2013.

Monday.

_Since 1973, The Pandora Hearts Hospital has been one of the premiere providers of mental health and chemical dependency treatment to Atlanta and the Southeast._

He huffs and rubs his eyes free from sleep.

_We offer a safe and nurturing environment for children, adolescents, adults and senior adults to find hope and healing from emotional, psychiatric and addictive diseases._

He scratches his head and carefully slides out of his pure white bed, and plants his bare feet on the cold tiled floor beneath and shivers.

_The Pandora Hearts Hospital system includes a 246-bed inpatient acute-care facility, partial-hospitalization and intensive outpatient program._

He combs through his unruly blonde locks with his hand as he shakily walks to the barred windows of the hospital's in-patient dorm building, and sighs under his breath when he notices that the day was bright with the sun shining and not a single cloud could be seen.

But as soon as his eyes fell upon the building just across from the hospital's in-patient dorm building he was already dreading his stay, and he didn't even go walking across the dorm building, walk all along the sidewalk, and go into the Hospital itself.

_At Pandora, we recognize that emotional, behavioural, and chemical dependency problems can affect all areas of a person's life. So our individualized treatment programs are tailored to address each person's unique problems and needs_.

He shakes his shoulders and walks his way to the foot of his bed, as he then starts digging through his duffle bag to find his clothes, his day was already starting, but it couldn't have been more tiresome and taxing.

_Each patient's treatment team will assist them in finding and using the tools they need to be able to build a healthier, more positive life. _

_'__What a horrible day this is going to be…_' He thought, sighing yet again as he began getting dressed.

_A Masters Level Counselor will offer a free evaluation to determine the most appropriate level of care for the patient. If hospitalization is required, the patient and his/her family will work with a multi-disciplinary team to develop an individualized treatment plan._

"Hello?" Came a voice at the door as a gentle knock was then heard after.

He turns his blonde head towards the door and with a raised eyebrow, he buttons up his shirt and straightens out his collar. "Yes?" he replies.

"Oz Vessalius? It's exactly 7:33. It is almost time to take your vitals." Came the reply of the nurse on the other side of his door.

He rolls his eyes and pulls on his lace-less shoes. "I'm coming!" He shouts back, smile heard inside his voice, but not seen on his expression.

_Care is provided by psychiatrists, registered nurses, counselors, social workers, activity therapists, mental health specialists, addiction counselors, educational specialists and other professionals will be available at all times._

Another knock on the door was heard. "Oz! Better hurry if you want to keep on schedule on your very first day!" Came the sing-song voice of the nurse.

Oz merely sighs under his breath and sits down on his bed with a heavy thump and a single bounce.

_Throughout the treatment experience, we work together with our patients and their families to encourage the best possible outcome and ongoing plan for success, and we all hope for the best in the lives of our recovering patients, and his/her families._

The short blonde teen silently stares down at his black high-top shoes and peers closely at both of his untied shoes; despondency clear in both his bright emerald eyes as his golden coloured strands of hair fall gently over his right eye, briefly blocking out his view of his black Converse shoes, which were firmly planted on the beige tiled floor below.

_At The Pandora Hearts Hospital's "Out Reach Program" we work together to provide better care and the tools necessary to help the patient recover and increase their self-esteem, help them realize their responsibilities they need to take for their behaviours, and help them realize that they do not need to turn to drugs or alcohol for their problems. We unite to do right._

Oz had memorized the entire hospital brochure offered out to him just the night before, and he couldn't have felt more estranged and abandoned than at that moment now.

Huffing the wayward blonde bang away from his eye, he quietly slides off of his twin-sized bed and glides his back against the pure white bed sheets and bends over to plant one knee on the tiled floor from inside his own in-patient bedroom to straighten out his shoe.

His shoes could now slide easily off his feet—more so than they already would have—even when his shoelaces were tied securely on.

"Oz Vessalius? It's exactly 7:40 A.M, five more minutes and it'll be time to take your vitals at the front gates of the hospital." The nurse—who Oz later found out that her name is Sharon Rainsworth—states pleasantly by the front door of his light beige coloured bedroom as she confidently drums her knuckles against the door for the third time early that morning.

"I'm coming Sharon!" Oz calls from his bedside as he then quickly fixes up his bright blonde hair, straightens out his white button down dress shirt, fixes up the black suspenders hanging down from both is hips, and then tightens his black coloured belt and loops the belt around his small waistline as he securely locks it into place on the third hole close to the bottom. He runs his fingers over the small silver studs decorated all across the front of the belt and wrinkles his brow in confusion.

_'__I lost weight again…I used to fit these pants perfectly…' _Oz notes inside his head as he then pouts down at his lace-less Converse high-top sneakers. _'Why did they take away my shoelaces?' _He thought dubiously, before shrugging and walks towards his door.

As Oz exited out of his beige coloured in-patient bedroom, and follows along behind the strawberry blonde nurse, named Sharon Rainsworth, who had already started walking ahead of him and down the hallway without another word of greeting.

He shrugs and focuses his attention purely on his surroundings, nothing out of the ordinary was going on inside _The Pandora Hearts Hospital's "In-Patient Dorm Building",_ everything looked exactly where they should be, and as Oz continued to walk along and down the hallways, he couldn't help but notice that every window he happened to pass by, was barred and looked to be locked.

He frowns a bit at this and looks ahead to the hallway. _'What if there's a fire and the only way out is through the windows?' _Oz thought, shaking his head at the thought.

As they headed nearer to the front door of the in-patient dorm building, Oz couldn't help but get the strange feeling that they were being followed, turning his head to look over his shoulder, he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, and certainly he saw no one following them.

"Oz?"

Oz turns back around and realizes he stopped in the middle of the doorway as Sharon continued to hold the door open for him with a confused expression written on her face. With an apologetic smile thrown in Sharon's direction, Oz continued on through the door.

And once Oz stepped out of the threshold of the doorway, he couldn't help but smile brightly at the warmth he received from the sun, and instantly, he spun in a circle with his arms out stretched.

"Ahh~ such a beautiful day!" Oz states, grinning widely as he turns to look over at Sharon, who stands with a hand blocking out the sun's rays from hitting her face. "Don't you think it's a wonderful day Sharon? It suites your beautiful straw-berry blonde hair perfectly!" He compliments unabashedly with a small smile.

Sharon only giggles into her hand as she nods her head. "It is a beautiful day out. I wouldn't mind spending some time out in the sunlight today with the other patients. They might enjoy this fresh air as well." She states with a small smile.

As they continued down the cobble stone sidewalk, Oz runs his hands over the silver chains situated on either side of the sidewalk. He couldn't help but wonder what the point was in keeping chains enclosed on the sidewalk, because surely no one would get lost and lose their way to the hospital.

_'__But then again, it is a big place…But still, the hospital is just right across from the in-patient dorm building! You can easily see it looking out of a window!'_ Oz thought in confusion as he continued to look all around the hospital grounds.

Technically, it wasn't exactly a hospital, per se, although they _do_ have nurses and doctors, they weren't the kind of doctors and nurses that could treat serious or life threatening wounds, crack bones back together, or sew together a human being, they only treated the serious mental health troubles inside a person's mind, but a medical staff could be located further into the building, one call, and they would be there quick.

As they both headed nearer to the hospital, Oz couldn't help but look around one last time at his surroundings, the whole expanse of the hospital grounds had such a calm atmosphere and wide beautiful stretch of flower beds over to the front gates located where the patients had to go and get their daily medication and vitamins, he couldn't help but think that now that he himself was a patient at _The Pandora Hearts Hospital_, that his life would surely be lived fully on routines and humiliation from this point on.

"Oz…? Are you alright?" Came the troubled sounding voice of Sharon Rainsworth, who Oz finally noticed was facing him completely, and holding out the vitamins he was requested to take, out towards him with a concerned look to her otherwise warm and happy expression.

Oz smiled nervously and shook his head of his previous thoughts, trying to regain his main state of mind as a way to not worry the kind—and surprisingly young—nurse. "My mind was somewhere else, I guess." He shrugged casually. "I'm back though." Oz smiled reassuringly as he took the small cup offered out towards him, picked up the two small little tablets inside the even tinier cup, between his fingers and thumb and popped them into his mouth with a grin.

Sharon grins back at the smile she receives and with a swift turn on her heel, starts unlocking the front gates to the therapy ward by placing her I.D card in the gates security slot—her card that was placed perfectly on the outside of her light pink nurse's uniform—and punches in the security code shortly after swiping the I.D card through.

Just as Sharon had turned her back to Oz, he quickly spits the vitamins out and into his hand and stuffs the vitamins into the front pocket of his black cargo knee-length pants without hesitation.

Once the front gate to the Therapy ward was opened, Sharon turns back around and gestures for Oz to follow her once again, which he nods at and starts obediently following along behind Sharon without a word of objection.

"We didn't exactly get to give you a tour of our therapy facilities yesterday, did we?" Sharon asks from over her shoulder, her heels clicking and echoing all the way down the hallway as she hurriedly takes small steps.

Oz shakes his head. "No, but I guess that was to be expected when my Father practically demanded that I be sent here against my will last night, and quickly demanded that I stay here for the rest of my life." He states happily, smiling pleasantly at Sharon's concerned expression.

"Oz…" Sharon then trails off nervously and shakes her head a second after.

Oz tilts his head in confusion as he raises his arms and places them behind his head as he laces his fingers together. "What's wrong Sharon?" He asks, his own voice filled with concern.

Sharon looks back over her shoulder and beams the boy a bright smile, "Nothing, I was just going to tell you that because you're new here, I'm giving you a tour of the hospital today and then therapy will begin tomorrow." She easily lies as she smiles happily over her shoulder.

Oz quickly nods his head in anticipation and skips to her side in the hall. "Great! I don't want to get lost tomorrow…" he replies sheepishly.

Sharon giggles and begins her quick briefing of the facilities.

"Well you saw the front gate back there, that's where the patients go when it's time to take their scheduled medications and vitamins, which is held every day at 7:45 A.M, then straight down this hallway is the way to the cafeteria, now just to warn you the cafeteria is small, but everyone feels more secured and safe because of its size, and you always get the right amount food that you need at breakfast, Breakfast is served at 7:45 to 8:15 A.M. No patients are allowed second helpings of food, you will soon find out the reason why," She states, smiling over her shoulder before continuing on. "Now, if you take a right down this hallway beside the cafeteria doors," She then gestures beside them as she takes a sharp right turn down the same hallway she had just gestured towards and Oz stumbled over his own feet to catch up with her. "You will be heading straight to the Recreational Room, which holds most of the Group Therapy sessions, which starts after Lunch at 1:15 to 2:00 P.M; it's also a place where people go to hang out during their spare time, which varies from each patient's daily schedule." She smiles over her shoulder towards Oz.

"This is the Recreational Room," She gestures to the light blue door beside her, before going over to the door just across from the rec room, "This way Mr. Vessalius~" She says in a sing-song voice as she heads through the swinging double doors and holds one door open for Oz to enter through.

Which he does as he quickly rushes forward and walks down another brightly lit hallway, easily taking Sharon's side inside the hall, Oz glanced at the barred windows on the left hand side of the hallway, then to the hand-made paintings on the wall beside him to his right, then finally he realized that the paintings were done by the patients themselves, most of the paintings were crudely coloured and drawn, but a few of them were actually very beautiful, as though a true artist had painted it.

"This large door here is where the showers are, the boy's get their own showers, each of the showers stalls are individual so no one has to share, and of course, the girls get their own shower room as well" She announces, pointing to the large double doors beside her, "They get to shower right after they finish gym, every patient gets to shower at 1:00 to 1:15 P.M." She states, before she starts heading down the hallway again. "Down this hallway is where the gym is located, we all get to enjoy a bit of fun sometimes Oz." Sharon states deviously, winking with a small giggle thrown over to Oz. "We nurses get a choice whether or not to join the group activities, but we mostly always indulge ourselves with a bit of fun." She smiles. "This is the gym." She announces, pushing the double doors open with her arm and peeks inside. "No one is inside here at the moment, but gym starts at around 12:30 to 1:00 P.M." She smiles, then goes back to the tour.

"Group Therapy then starts at 1:15 to 2:00 P.M right after the patients are done taking their showers and medications." She declares. "Snack time is right after Group Therapy, snack time starts at 2:00 to 2:15 P.M." She announces, before turning her head over her shoulder. "What day is it today Oz?" She suddenly asks, turning to look over to Oz, who stood to her right in the hallway.

Oz looks up to the ceiling in thought with a finger pressed to his chin, before he smiles back down at her. "Today is Monday." He replies confidently.

She only nods her head. "Alright, then yesterday on Sunday was CBT, but now that its Monday today, we begin Expressive Therapy, which is held at 2:15 to 3:00 P.M. Expressive Therapy is when the patients come together, and talk about what had happened in their past, and if no one has enough courage to speak freely, then they get a bit of time to themselves and listen to another group of recovering patients talk about their lives, and about their pasts, as they give the current patients, a little bit of advice." She smiles warmly at this. "Expressive Therapy is just one small step to recovery. Depending on what type of problems each patient is going through." She nods her strawberry blonde head and peeks a curiously over to the unusually silent Oz. "Are you alright?" She asks in concern once again.

Oz smiles brightly and nods his bright blonde head fast. "I'm fine! I was just thinking about the schedule…Sure seems like a lot of hard work to keep a hospital in check and on time a lot." He states, mostly to himself as he goes over the current schedule inside his head, already getting confused with all the different time regiments and the many hallways they have yet to go over, feeling just a tad bit overwhelmed by the fact that he would have to spend most—if not all—of his days inside this very hospital, until he's "cured" as his dad stated begrudgingly.

Sharon smiles and nods her head eagerly. "My Grandmother is the one that owns this hospital, I begged her for a job as a nurse here." She giggles.

Oz stiffens and turns to look incredulously over to the giggling nurse. "You WANTED to be a nurse here? I didn't think people would want to be a nurse at a…" He lowers his voice and pulls a hand to block out one side of his mouth. "A mental hospital..." He whispers, shifting his eyes to and fro within the hallway.

Sharon merely waves this away with her hand and a small smile. "I've always wanted to help people Oz, even when I was a little girl and I didn't know any better…" Her smile then turns warm as she stares down to the floor in nostalgia, "And I ever since the first day I met him…" A wistful look comes to her smiling expression and a light blush dusts across her cheeks.

Oz smiles coyly and bumps his hip next to hers. "Who's the lucky guy Sharon?" He teases mischievously.

She squeals at the young blondes comment and smacks him in the arm with a playful slap. "I have eyes for no one Mr. Vessalius! Now, follow me!" she rushes forward, a darker blush forming across her nervous looking face as she tries desperately to keep her face hidden within her long strawberry blonde locks.

Oz chuckles under his breath and catches up after her. "So, what's next?"

"Well," She clears her throat and composes herself. "After Expressive Therapy, we let the patients head back into their own rooms for a while, or if they want, we let them roam around the therapy grounds out back, where they can write inside their Journals freely, and it is completely up to them what it is they want to write about. We have no say in what they should and should not write about." She smiles over to Oz. "They get to write in their journals from 3:00 to 3:30." She looks back to the hall. "So you don't always have to stay in your room Oz, patients are free to do whatever they want on their spare time." She declares.

Oz smiles at this announcement and eagerly claps his hands together, "Is there a library in this hospital?" He asks excitedly, he really wanted to read his favourite novel series called "The Holy Knight." Again, he had missed most of their recent books he knew he was surely far behind on the series already.

Sharon nods her head with a pleasant smile. "My Grandmother always wanted a library in a hospital, so we just built one about a year ago. Patients are allowed to enter the Library, but if they are caught skipping out on Therapy sessions just to go to the library, or if they are missing from one of their therapy activities, they WILL be punished." She smiles brightly over to Oz at this statement. "So don't get caught wandering around the hallways Oz, as punishment, _we nurses_ are allowed to make the patients sit through another group therapy session, or do the dishes piled in the back of the cafeteria."

Oz shivers at the thought. "I would hate to get stuck doing the dishes…I'll make sure never to skip out on any therapy sessions you guys hold." He reassures her, putting up his hands in surrender.

He really would rather sit through a boring group therapy session, than get stuck doing a pile of unclean and filthy dishes. Chores just weren't for him, he'd rather be the one _tricking_ people into doing the dished for him then the one _cleaning_ them.

Sharon giggles evilly and carries on. "The hospital grounds are secured and barred all around the outside perimeter; we have various security guards working double shifts and roaming the hospital grounds. Unfortunately, because we are so under staffed this year, the security guards are doing a lot more work than usual…I feel so bad for them." She sighs, then shakes her head and wipes off the sad expression and replaces it with a small smile. "But I know _one_ security guard who is happy to be working double shifts here." She states happily, smiling over to Oz. "His name is Gilbert Nightray, he's always happy to help around the hospital and he doesn't mind all the extra work at all, as long as he gets the extra pay though." She rolls her eyes and folds her arms over her chest. "Men and their money, that's all they care about in life nowadays, how much they got in there wallets." She pouts and cocks her hip to the side in distaste.

Oz laughs loudly and pats her lightly on her slender shoulder blade. "Don't worry Sharon! I bet you'll find a guy that would give up all the money in the world just to have you at his side." He reassures her as he starts walking down the hallway with her under his arm.

Trying hard to uplift the young nurse's spirits.

Which works not long after as she starts grinning from ear to ear. "I do hope your right Mr. Vessalius!" She states determinedly as she throws her fist up in the air beside the young blonde teenager. "I vow from this day on that I WILL find a guy that cares a lot about other people's feelings than how much money they get in their paycheques!" She declares to no one in particular either then herself as she sighs dramatically and pulls Oz by the arm. "If only that person can come along sooner." She giggles as she starts pulling Oz by the sleeve of his white dress shirt. "I still got a lot of places to show you around inside the hospital, so we better get a move on." She states exasperatedly.

_'__I don't think Oz belongs here, he just seems so…Normal…The way he seems to carry himself and acts, is just what any teenager would act…Why exactly would his own father register him inside our therapy ward? What did Oz do, or say to his father…?'_ Sharon thought, questions after questions only piling on inside her mind that she had to practically shake them out of her head before finally carrying on with her briefing of the hospital schedule.

"After the patients get to write in their journals, expressive therapy starts once again, from 3:30 to 4:30 P.M, and from there they head to the cafeteria for dinner, which starts at 4:30 to 5:00 P.M." She smiles over to Oz, to see him brightly smiling out towards the window beside them.

"What kind of food do you guys serve here? Anything good?" Oz asks warily, already dreading that the cook inside the hospital will only serve gruel or something along the lines of what he normally got back in his high-school.

And ever since he managed to get out of that place his father called "school", he always had a great dislike for cafeteria foods.

Sharon smiles and pats him on the shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, the cooks are famous for their baked chicken and excellent taco's here, they love serving the patients all their famous home-made recipes and other delicious dishes! Some of the cooks here used to work in five-star restaurants before they applied here in the hospital." She states with a long dreamy sigh. "Ask for their César salad, I swear, it's heaven on earth Oz." she states dreamily.

Oz rubs his empty stomach with his hand and hums in appreciation. "Sounds delicious! When do I get to try some of their food?" He asks eagerly, licking his lips in anticipation. "I'm hun—"

What Oz was going for was "I'm hungry!" but that was before he got cut off by Sharon.

Who gasps loudly as she stops right in the middle of the stairwell they were just going down and faces Oz with a shocked and horrified expression on her face looking as though she just saw a ghost inside the hallway.

Oz—now feeling incredibly scared stiff—sneaks a peek in front of her, to see if Sharon actually _did_ see a ghost.

"I completely forgot that they already started breakfast!" she practically shouts out.

Oz shoulders sag in relief as he exhales out a shaky breath.

"You must be starving! I'm so sorry Oz, I just get caught up in explaining the schedules and how the hospital works that I get carried away and—" She started to ramble.

"—S-Sharon!" Oz grabs her shoulders lightly and gives them a light shake with a small smile spreading across his pale face. "Don't worry! I completely forgot that I was hungry until you mentioned food just now!" He chuckles. "I'm fine Sharon." He reassures her. "I'm not dying of starvation or anything." He chuckles rolling his eyes.

Sharon shakes her head and clasps both her hands onto Oz's shoulders and steers him around and back from where they came from.

"Still, I'm sorry for being so forgetful, so how about I escort you back to the cafeteria—to see if they have anything left over from breakfast this morning—and give you one of my home-made schedules, Hm?" She hums, smiling apologetically over to Oz as she digs in her black and pink coloured purse that was hanging from her shoulder to her hip when they first began the tour around the hospital therapy ward and bustles around inside her bag all the while biting her lip in concentration.

"This is a schedule I made when I first became a nurse here, because I didn't have the slightest clue on where to go or what to do for my first week here," Sharon admits, huffing her light blonde bang away from her eyes as she continues to search for the home-made schedule inside her purse. "My Grandmother always wanted to put up a time schedule and display it for everyone to see, and she always wanted to hand them out to every patient that come here with their families….But lately she has always been swamped with work." She explains as she finally pulls out a folded up piece of paper from within her purse and hands it out towards Oz with a bright smile. "Now just to remind you, I made this myself from memory, so if I got a few things mixed up, or if I didn't include some of the patient activities, then come see me, and I'll have a new one for you." She announces with a grin.

Oz grins in appreciation and nods his head as he takes the paper offered out towards him from Sharon's small hands. "Thank you so much for your help Sharon, I'll make sure to keep this schedule close by me at all times, and I promise I won't lose it either!" He declares heroically as he puts the schedule sheet into his pants back pocket and pats down his knee-length black shorts.

Sharon nods her head and takes a fast left turn down the hallway. "Well, I'll take you to the cafeteria hall now, and I'll also ask if the cooks have any left-overs from this morning. If not, I'll just ask if they can whip up something fast for you." She says with a determined nod of her head.

Oz chuckles at the nurses determined expression and claps his hands enthusiastically. "I can't wait to try out their pancakes!"

* * *

_And that was my first chapter to my NEW story :)_

_Some people are gonna hate me though ._. because I have two stories on Fanfic already...And sadly...I lost inspiration to both of them! D: If only someone was nice enough to encourage me on the stories, but even if they did...I don't think I have it in me to continue...But I'm not giving up hope on those two stories! :D So don't worry people who follow me and shit!_

_Anywhoo..._

_I hope you guys liked this story :) Review, comment, send me a PM, whatever! Just enjoy the story :)_

_Also..._

_I hope Oz isn't OOC ._. tell me if he is or not and I'll fix him up :) I only have 12 chapters on this story and I'm still going. So that being said, the updating and uploading new chapters will be a tad bit slow. Sorry to disappoint._


	2. Meeting

_Sorry if this chapter has spelling error's._

* * *

Chapter 2: Meeting.

_-Oz has just been admitted into The Pandora Hearts Hospital's "Out Reach Program", and recently, he had just been giving a tour of the hospital's Therapy Ward, but what exactly is in store for him now that he's a patient?-_

Oz stood just outside the cafeteria's double doors and stared at them in apprehension, he didn't know what was in store for him on the other side, and what if there were patients still in there? What would they say? Or _do_ for that matter? What was there for him to say? He didn't know anyone here, except maybe for Sharon, _now_, but she was gone and doing her job somewhere inside the hospital after she was called from the hospital's intercom.

He had no one anymore.

_'__But then again, when have I never been alone for such a long amount of time…?'_ He asks himself, sighing in derision and scratching his blonde head, before inhaling loudly and puffing out his chest in determination.

He could do this; he just had to walk in through the doors, ask if they have any spare pancakes or whatever it was that the patients had eaten that morning, eat, then walk out like he wasn't there at all.

It was easier said than done, he knew that for sure, but he couldn't just _not_ eat, he would surely regret it later on in the day when his stomach would most likely growl right in the middle of Expressive Therapy or whatever the hell it was that the patients were doing now.

_'__Why are you just standing there? Where did your courage go? Just walk in!'_ His mind screamed at him.

Finally exhaling out, he pushes one of the double doors open and swiftly walks inside, to see that the cafeteria was in fact, very small as Sharon had stated it would be. But Oz easily detected the lunch line, and that is where easily spots the red plastic trays piled on top of one another at one end of the lunch line, and he also saw the hard plastic window covers covering over the food to keep them either safe and out of the reach of the patients on the other side of the window, or to keep them safe from people sneezing all over the food and infecting everyone with a virus.

Oz then looks to the left hand side of the small cafeteria lunch room, to see a large hard glass wall and saw a few heads on the other side of the glass window moving to and fro from the other side, and that is where he hears the sound of running water and dishes clanking.

_'__That must be where the patients hand over their dirty trays and give them to the dish washers…Why would they put up a glass window though? Wouldn't they think that that isn't a very good idea considering that some of the patients here are probably murderers or weapon using maniacs?'_ Oz thought, shaking his head at the idea. _'They should've put up a hard plastic wall instead. Nim-rods.'_

Oz then looks back to the lunch line, to see that all the food was already gone. He frowns and heads over to the lunch line and tip-toes to look over the plastic covering window to try and catch the attention of a cafeteria worker that may or may not be still behind the counter top.

"Excuse me?" He calls.

Only to have no one answer, he frowns again. "Hello? Is anyone back there?" He calls again, this time raising his voice slightly.

"Hello?"

Oz instinctively flinches at the rough sounding voice that came from directly beside him and turns his head to look over his shoulder.

To see a man standing beside him, dressed in all black—including the colour of his wavy unruly hair—and notices that the man's skin was lightly tanned in colour and also notices that his piercing golden eyes were staring intently into his own bright green eyes.

The man's face—if Oz was obligated to compliment a complete stranger—had a unique and very handsome quality, his cheek bones could easily be seen and if Oz saw the man smile, he knew right away that the man would most definitely have a friendly quality to it, and not to mention, that he would also look so darn good looking if he _did_ smile.

But again, if Oz was obligated to compliment this stranger, which he wasn't, he would just have to keep his thoughts to himself—for now.

"Umm…Can I help you? Are you a patient here?" The man asks timidly as he raises a hand to scratch nervously at the side of his face once he noticed that the blonde teenage boy was staring at him with such a focused and concentrated expression. "I'm a security guard here, my name is—"

"—Gilbert Nightray?" Oz finishes, he was only taking a wild guess, he _did_ hear Sharon mention a security guard that goes by the name of Gilbert Nightray.

So at this point, Oz was really hoping that the man beside him was _in fact_ Gilbert so he wouldn't come off as weird and rude for cutting the man off in his introduction.

The man's golden eyes widen in surprise, before he schools his expression and narrows his eyes suspiciously at the Gothic-ly dressed teenage boy, who was now standing directly in front of him with his hands behind his back—feigning innocence. "Yeah…My name is Gilbert…" He trails off. "Who are you? How do you know me?" The man—_Gilbert_ to Oz's relief—replies in a tone of skepticism as he watches the boy's shoulders sag in either relief, or discomfort.

Oz then sighs heavily and raises his hands in mock surrender as he plasters on a fake—but beaming—grin. "At ease soldier, my name is Oz Vessalius, I'm a new patient here. Sharon—the nurse that works here?—mentioned a guy named Gilbert Nightray, and also mentioned that he was a security guard here. I just guessed that you were him." Oz explains, smiling at the man's still skeptic expression, before he clears his throat and gestures to the empty food trays beside them. "I was late for breakfast because Sharon was showing me around the hospital, but now that the tour is over, I thought I try and get some food…But…Heh, heh…" Oz chuckles nervously and scratches at the back of his bright blonde head. "The food is already gone…Do you think that—"

"—I can ask the Chef if he can make you some food?" Gilbert quickly suggest, before he clears his throat in embarrassment and shrugs his shoulders. "If you want that is." He later says, shrugging his shoulders once again as he looks away from the boy's curious gaze and looks around the empty cafeteria instead.

The boy in front of him made him feel uneasy and just a little bit nervous—even though he had just _met_ the kid—not because he _now_ _knew_ that Oz Vessalius was a _patient _here at the hospital, but because the teenager that is standing in front of him—who Gilbert was guessing, was probably only 14-years-old while he himself, was 24-years-old— just had such an _easy-going_, _welcoming_, and _warm-like_ disposition in the air surrounding him, that it made Gilbert himself, feel nervous and slightly embarrassed all at once. Not only because he noticed that Oz possessed such girl-like qualities in his face and hair, but because Gilbert himself didn't have such an easy going and welcoming nature like Oz did. And he was probably only 14 for crying out loud! How can someone _that_ young possess such a charming personality?

Gilbert also knew that right then and there, that he would have trouble controlling Oz inside the hospital—if the boy ever got into any trouble at all—when he himself, had a problem with just looking at him right _now_.

He couldn't even look Oz in the eye without feeling as though his anxiety level was going through the roof, and feeling as though he was being a complete fool by merely standing in the boy's radiating atmosphere, it made him feel like a complete bumbling idiot.

"Helloooo? Is Gilbert still in there?"

Gilbert visibly flinches back at the sound of Oz's closer-than-before-voice and quickly looks down at him, to see that the blonde teen was standing up on his tip-toes to peer curiously into both his eyes with his hand waving in front of his stunned face.

Gilbert quickly steps back and nervously wrings his hands together. "I'm sorry, I-I got lost in my own th-thoughts." Gilbert inwardly smacks himself on the forehead for sounding like a complete stuttering fool. "I-I mean…" Gilbert trails off, what was he going to say again?

"I mean…?" Oz repeats, his smile turning into a full grin once he notices Gilbert's face start to heat up in a faint embarrassed blush. "What were you going to say Gilbert?" Oz asks, shuffling his feet together as he stares intently into the man's wide golden eyes.

"Nothing…" Gilbert says after a two seconds of awkward silence. "I'm going to find the chef now and ask if he can make you some—" Gilbert starts to turn away.

"—Pancakes!" Oz quickly interjects, taking Gilbert by the sleeve of his long black trench coat. "I would love some Gilbert." Oz states, smiling brightly at the blushing security guard who was now staring at him with wide eyes.

"Y-yeah…Okay, I'll go ask." Gilbert replies nervously.

Oz smiles and then let's go of Gilbert's sleeve he was holding onto. "I will wait here." Oz announces, pointing straight down at the floor.

Gilbert, not knowing what else to say, merely nods his head and then walks away to find the Chef. All the while, scolding himself for being such a fool in front of a boy much younger than he was, the boy should've been tripping over his own words in the presence of an adult, not the other way around.

As Oz was then left alone with his own thoughts, he turns around and inspects the small cafeteria, no patient was around, not even the Chef was seen inside, but what Oz could easily see, was the security camera's hanging from each side of the walls and saw quite a few of them in every corner of the ceiling.

_'__If Gilbert is a security guard here, I wonder if he'll be the one who has to review the security tapes…?' _Now feeling just a tad bit like his old self—mischievous, scheming, and devious—he grins in delight, looks around, sees no one, then sneakily goes over to one of the camera's hanging in the corner, and gives the security camera a thumbs up, a big grin as he then hastily grabs the hem of his white dress shirt and lifts it past his stomach to reveal his chest.

He always wanted to flash a camera, and he always liked showing off his body, and he also very much liked compliments, so he hoped that he would get to enjoy all three sometime in the future.

"He said he would—"

Oz quickly pulls down his shirt in haste and nervously spins around to face Gilbert with a panicky and forced smile stretched far too widely across his face. "Wh-what was that Gilbert?" he asks nervously, folding his hands together behind his back as he rocks back and forth on the heels of his black shoes.

_'__Holy crap! I hope he didn't see!?' _Oz screams inside his head, face still smiling.

Gilbert raises a dark eyebrow, but doesn't bother asking Oz "what's the matter" and doesn't bother asking _why_ the teenager was now being so jumpy around him.

But as long as he wasn't the one being so jumpy and panicky, then he was alright.

Gilbert clears his throat. "I asked the chef if he could make you some pancakes, I explained your situation to him and he agreed to make you some pancakes, as long as you eat everything up and don't ask for seconds." Gilbert shrugs his shoulders when he receives a questionable look from Oz. "He doesn't like making seconds because he knows that people hardly ever finishes them." Gilbert explains with a passionate eye roll.

Oz smiles brightly and walks over to Gilbert to pat him on the shoulder. "Thank you for asking Gilbert." He thanks the security guard whole-heartedly as he then turns around and sits in the nearest cafeteria bench, which was made entirely of plastic, and dusts the seat off before he plops himself down.

Gilbert clears his throat, now feeling uncomfortable, and thumbs in the direction of the door. "I'm gonna leave you to your food now, so…Uh…" Gilbert trails off again as he then slowly starts to shuffle backwards towards the double doors of the cafeteria.

Oz quickly waves both his hands. "W-wait!" Oz shouts, mentally flinching at how his voice echoed off the walls—and also sounded completely desperate—he smiles nervously and fidgets with his hands. "Um, I'm new here and…I got a few questions to ask about this schedule, if you don't mind answering that is." Oz suggests, his hand going to the back of his pants pocket and pulls out Sharon's home-made hospital schedule and lays it flat on the bench in front of him.

Gilbert inwardly sighs in frustration. He really wanted to leave the brat behind—only because he knew he would only continue to act like a stuttering and blushing idiot in front of him—and he also had no idea _why_ he was suddenly acting so out of character and losing his cool in front of the blonde patient, but he had a suspicion that if he continued to question it, he wouldn't like the answer.

_'__Might as well give him what he wants and maybe then he'll leave me alone…' _Gilbert notes inside his head as he then goes over to the bench Oz was now sitting in, and sits down with a thump and a skeptic scowl.

Oz smiles at Gilbert's unwary expression and un-folds the paper. "It says that after breakfast it will be time to take 'medications and vitals', but that was at 8:15, now that its 8:45 and I'm already late for this thing called 'Goals Group', what exactly do I do? And where do I go for that matter?"

Gilbert peers closer at the schedule and narrows his eyes in concentration, trying to discern whether or not Oz _should_ attend the Goals Group when the teen was already 15 minutes late. It wasn't exactly his choice to make, but then again, Gilbert was the security guard and he was the one that was supposed to keep the patients in-line and to make sure that they stuck to the hospitals schedule instead of goofing off somewhere inside.

"I'm only the security guard here, but it _is_ my duty to make sure that all of the patients are sticking with the schedule and we're also the ones making sure that the patients don't slack off, so…" Gilbert looks up and points at Oz's face. "You should attend the Goals Group after you finish eating." He states in a no nonsense tone of voice.

Oz wrinkles his nose in displeasure and leans forward on the bench with his chin laid in the middle of his palms as he gives Gilbert his most mischievous smile he could summon up.

And it makes Gilbert instinctively lean back once he notices Oz leaning towards him with that clear look of mischief and playfulness that practically sparkled and crackled in the air surrounding the once innocent looking teenage boy, and gulps nervously.

"Oh? So you're the one that enforces hard labour with menial tasks are ya?" Oz purrs.

Gilbert didn't like it, he could feel himself practically turn into a pile of Gilbert-goop that the teenager could easily mold and bend to his will.

Why was he the only one acting this way? Shouldn't it be the other way around? He was the security guard after all and Oz was the patient!

_'__Why me?!' _Gilbert shouts inside his head.

"Would you mind doing me another favour Mr. Nightray?" Oz asks, tapping his fingers along the plastic bench as he leans back and away from the terrified security guard.

"N-…I don't like that look in your eye, you have something planned and as a security guard, I'm going to have to—"

"—Punish me?" Oz dramatically gasps, throwing a hand over his heart and pulling at his blonde bangs. "Oh no! Not that Mr. Nightray!" he exclaims in a breathy voice. "I just might…Enjoy it!" He exclaims, grabbing at his hair with both his hands and tightly shutting both his eyes as he then began making lewd and indecent noises.

Gilbert's face turns beet red to the tips of his ears as he holds a hand over his mouth. "Wh-what? What're you—!? No!"

Oz grins in delight and guffaws inside the cafeteria. "Oh man! You shoulda saw the look on yer face! Ha ha ha!" Oz laughs loudly, clutching at his sides as he wiggles and rolls inside the bench.

Gilbert's face turns into a scowl, which goes unnoticed by the blonde teenager as he was still too busy laughing, and gets up from the bench with a bright blush still dusting across his face. "I'm leaving! If I see you roaming the halls, I'm getting Sharon and making sure your properly punished!" Gilbert declares, pointing an accusing finger at the grinning face of the blonde-haired patient as he then turns swiftly around on his heel and practically jogs out of the cafeteria.

Oz pouts and folds his arms over his chest. "He didn't even give me a chance to ask if he can show me the way to where the Goals Group is located." He states with a long and dragged out sigh and holds his chin in his hand as the other hand plays with a stray blonde bang hanging over his emerald eye.

"He sure is fun to tease though." He grins at this and chuckles under his breath.

_'__Maybe I will enjoy my stay if Gilbert Nightray is here…?' _Oz thought mischievously. He already felt a lot like himself with just the security guard around him, and Oz had a feeling that if he actually _did_ continue to stay inside the hospital, maybe he can be cured on top of that as well.

Oz then scowled at this thought. _'I doubt it though…Once I return home…I'll just want to leave again…' _He laid his head inside the crook of his arm that was folded on top of the cafeteria bench, and sighs heavily under his breath.

He left his home purely because of his father.

And he was practically _kicked_ _out_ of his house by father.

After Oz had attempted suicide.

The blonde teen can still hear his father's voice shouting at him late at night, even though he's inside the safety of the hospital and far away from his so called "Dad". Oz can still hear the accusing and hateful tone of voice that his father held when the man only continued to screech and yell at him from the top of his lungs what Oz ever was to him…

_"__You're a good for nothing, useless and horrible child, who I should've left in the care of your deceitful and ungrateful Mother. You mean nothing to me, you ARE nothing to me."_

And also a very _pleasant_ farewell speech, that his father had given him before he left_._

_"__You attempt suicide? After all I've done for you?! You brought shame upon our family name! Now leave! I don't want to even LOOK at your pitiful face until you're cured and SANE again!"_

Oz clutches his head with both his hands and shook it furiously. "Shut up!" He screams, hastily getting up from the cafeteria bench as he all but threw it over as he only continued to scream and beg for his father's forgiveness.

While in a state of delusion, Oz didn't even realize that the Chef had called for security, and that all the cafeteria staff members were surrounding him and trying their hardest to subdue the angry and crying patient.

All Oz was able to hear, was the yelling voice of his father, and he was able to see, was the menacing and hateful glares he received from both his father and his mother.

Down the hallway, and far away from the location of the cafeteria, Gilbert Nightray finally stops running, and dives for the safety of his favourite tree located just outside the hospital, on the therapy grounds and just in front of the steel chain linked fence situated in front of the hospital inpatient dorm building, and quickly plops himself down underneath the cool shade of his favourite tree as he pants and heaves for a chance to breathe.

"Damn…Brat…" he gasps out, clutching his chest with his left hand as his other hand searches for the pack of smokes inside his trench coat pocket.

He didn't know what to think of the patient Oz, at first glance, Gilbert thought that the boy was going to be sweet and innocent, he also looked a tad bit naïve and a bit too young to actually be in the Therapy Ward of the hospital.

But once he got to talk to the teenager, he was all but innocent and naïve, in fact, Gilbert now thought that Oz was devious, tricky, vindictive, and very lewd for a 14-year-old. If he was even fourteen, because if Oz was actually 12 or 13, Gilbert would then feel slightly disturbed by the fact that a 13-year-old could be that cunning, sly, and—

"Amazing…" Gilbert mumbles to himself, before he sits up with a fast lurch and quickly shouts a loud curse that then echoes around the hospital grounds. "What the hell?" Gilbert quickly shakes his head from side to side in refusal.

_'__I did NOT just think that about a 14—13—whatever his age is! I did NOT just think that about a teenage boy who is waaaay younger than I am!' _Gilbert denies, biting his thumb nail._ 'I'm 24-years-old for Christ sake! And I'm a MAN, I mean, yeah, I'm gay…But that boy is exactly what I just said he was, a BOY. No man should ever look at a boy, the way that I just thought of him!'_ Gilbert rants inside his head. _'Besides…I bet he isn't even gay…But what if he is? Maybe if I get to know him a bit more and ask him if he's—'_ Gilbert shakes his head again and punches the ground.

_'__Ugh! I'm turning into a full on CREEP! Break is rubbing off on me…'_ Gilbert groans inside his head as he pulls his long legs up to his chest and lays his head on his knees. "What the hell is wrong with me…?" He groans.

"You're confused."

"Gaah!" Gilbert shouts, falling to his side at the tree as he quickly reaches for the holster wrapped securely around his left leg.

And having every intention on shooting the bastard, who dared to sneak up on an armed man.

But Gilbert blinks at the man, who has his hands up in the air as a sign of surrender, and sighs heavily under his breath in annoyance. "Break…" He grumbles out. Speak of the devil… "What do you want?" He snaps, lowering his hand from his holster to the rest it on the grass beside him.

Break lowers his arms with a sly grin plastered across his pale featured face and squats down beside Gilbert to peer closer into his scowling face. "What is troubling you Gilbert? You seem as though you just saw—"

"All security guards report to the cafeteria hall located in the West Wing of the hospital! I repeat, all security must report to the cafeteria hall in the Therapy Ward section of the hospital, to subdue an enraged patient! All staff members must proceed with caution—"

Gilbert shoots up from the spot under his tree after the report had been given over the intercom speakers located all around the hospital grounds perimeter, and wraps a trembling hand around his gun holster.

"Oz…?" He whispers under his breath in uncertainty.

But not quiet enough.

Break easily caught the name of the patient Gilbert had just gasped out, and raises an eyebrow up at said man, who stood with a trembling hand resting on top of his gun and a shocked expression written over his face. There's something about Gilbert's body language that was quite interesting…

Break gets up from his squatting position at the tree and dusts off the dirt from his pants. "Gilbert, nearby security guards will manage to subdue the patient." He tried calming the on-edge security guard with a far too serious voice he wasn't used to at all as he took a step forward.

"I just came from the cafeteria!" Gilbert suddenly snaps.

Further perplexing the white-haired man with his sudden distraught behaviour, who is this patient named Oz that Gilbert was familiar with? It did ring a bell inside Break's head...

"I just met that patient too!" Gilbert shouts over his shoulder, snapping Break out of his thoughts. "I'm going before the other security guards give him a sedative!" Gilbert shouts, giving the white-haired man a fast scowl, before he spins on his heel and heads straight back to the Therapy Ward and to the cafeteria.

Break wrinkles his brows in confusion. "Gilbert, wait!" He tries shouting after the upset raven haired man.

But soon gives up and sighs heavily in annoyance.

_'__You get far too attached in only a matter of minutes, and way too easy to corrupt…' _Break shakes his head in disappointment at the security guards behaviour. _'Oz…Now I know who that is. He's my next patient.' _Break smiles merrily and heads to the hospital as well.

In a much more relaxed and casual stride than his younger latter.

Further ahead, Gilbert was already running towards the direction of the Exit he had just came out from as he rushes down the sidewalk and leaps over their chains which were hooked on each of the wooden pillars blocking all sides of the sidewalks and begins bolting it through the hospital's hallways.

_'__If I can make it on time, Oz won't have to get hurt.' _Gilbert kept telling himself as he began pushing his legs into a sprint.

All the while, he kept questioning himself as to why he cared so much for a boy he had just met.

* * *

_And that ladies and gentle men, is how chapter 2 is done..._

_Hope I did good ._._

_Also..._

_I hope I didn't make Gilbert OOC :L I like a blushy, bumbling, embarrassed Gil :3 it makes me smile. I wanted Gilbert to feel something for Oz RIGHT AWAY because...well...Basically that's just how Gilbert is in the Manga :) needy, touchy, moody, etc. etc. Hah! But yes, I have a good reason why Gilbert is developing feelings fast for Oz, and I will tell you the reason why ,if you review :P see what I did there? And if you have any questions about this story feel free to ask me :)_

_Also, I like CONSTRUCTIVE criticism :) it perks me up for some odd reason, but if someone says "This sucks." and leaves it as that, then I can't do anything about your opinions now can I? when you only have two words to say :L._

_And I KNOW that Oz is waaay OOC in this chapter, but I'm trying aren't I? lol. This is my first fanfic of Pandora too so be gentle, and I like my chapter idea's I have, but I just get a bit too excited, too ahead of myself, and the chapters start to speed up, including the pace of the characters feelings and thoughts...Soo...I'll work on that people! XD bear with me please!_

_Tah!_


	3. Patient

_Hopefully the spelling error's are cleaned up, I practically just skimmed through this chapter...I'll stop being lazy someday, I swear._

* * *

Chapter 3: Patient.

_-After meeting the security guard named Gilbert Nightray, Oz's sanity slips passed his fingers momentarily after Gilbert's departure. Now racing against the clock to save Oz from the clutches of other security guards, Gilbert might stumble upon the truth of Oz's past. And who is this white-haired man exactly?-_

Oz shakes his head furiously and throws himself to the safety of the wall as he clutches his sides and falls to the floor.

"Make them stop!" He screams, throwing his hands over his ears to block out the loud sirens and the many enraged and yelling voices around him.

_'__So…Much…Noise!' _He screams inside his head.

He can hear the shrill ringing of sirens, all he could see were the images of the many faces he had disappointed and had gotten angry in the past, and all he could hear above all else—besides the sirens—was his father's booming voice.

His father was still screaming at him, his father was still pinning him, his father was still beating him. He had nowhere to go, everywhere he went, his father would only follow, there was no escaping the clutches of such a dangerous and evil man such as his father.

He would die alone; he would only die by the hands of his father if he didn't make the noises stop.

"Stop it!" Oz screams yet again, shaking his head quickly as he brought his knee's up and curls up into the wall.

Where was he exactly?

Who were these people surrounding and screaming at him?

Why did they look so angry?

Were they angry at him? For what?

Were they only there to hurt him? Because he was a good for nothing and useless child like his father had told him that he was, right? That's why their angry?

"Ada…Uncle…" He whimpers in fright, he shuts his eyes tightly as he continues to huddle in the corner of the room and block out the noises with both his hands covered over his ears.

Every one despised him, but why couldn't he remember where he was? And who he was?

Where in the world did he belong…?

He was alone…But not alone…People were surrounding him, but they only wanted to HURT him.

He felt the need to do something…He felt the need to be by the side of someone, anyone…But no one was going to save him. Who wanted to save him anyways?

Because Oz, all he ever was…Was a nobody. He was nothing in the eyes of many…And he was surely nothing in the eyes of his father…And he was only going to continue to nothing until he died.

Unless he got his father's forgiveness, and unless his father finally looked at him like a human being, instead of a hopeless monster.

"Father!" Oz cried. "Please forgive me!" Oz screams, throwing his head back. "I don't want to be hurt anymore! I'll be good! I promise I won't do it again! Please father!" He begs and pleads, clawing at his blonde hair and tearing at his sleeves on his arms.

His eyes were now brimming with large tears as they spilled forth and streaked down his flushed cheeks, his body was trembling uncontrollably as he continued to scream and tear at his skin and hair. From his clawing, his arms had long red and bloody welts going from his shoulders, down to his hands, and his hair was being pulled out in chunks.

"Oz! Enough!"

Oz instinctively flinches back at the shout of his name and shakes his head furiously as he slaps his hands over both his ears in fright. "No father! I don't want you to punish me again!" He shouts, hiding his face inside both his hands.

Gilbert couldn't believe what he was seeing, Oz, the naïve looking—but horrifically mischievous—boy that he just got acquainted with, was sitting, curled up in the corner of the cafeteria with torn sleeves and red swollen nail marks scratched over his revealed legs and arms as the boy only continued to scream for forgiveness. Gilbert couldn't stand the sight of it, Oz was meant to be happy, he was only a teenager for Christ sake! He isn't supposed to be here and unhappy! And Gilbert also knew that he couldn't just stand there any longer and let the boy hurt himself.

Gilbert shakes his head and pushes many of the people surrounding Oz away from the teen and shouts at everyone to: "Step back!" And "Give him some room to breathe!" as he then hurriedly falls to his knees in front of the terrified looking boy and raises his hands out towards the frightened teenager, but then reminds himself, to never touch a delusional patient, not when they are in a state of confusion and fighting their inner turmoil. There really was nothing else to do for the boy…

'_But I'm not giving up damn it!_' Gilbert shouts at himself. "Oz! It's me!" He shouts out desperately, trying hard to grab Oz's attention as a way to stop the boy from further inflicting harm against his own body.

Oz heard the voice shout again. The voice wasn't his fathers, he knew that much.

But whose voice was it? He didn't recognize it.

Oz then starts to listen closely as he continues to rock back and forth on the floor and moves his arms to wrap them securely around his knees, which were propped up to his chest. He didn't want to leave the safety of the wall; no one could reach him from there. The voices won't follow him. His father won't hurt him anymore.

"Oz…It's only me…Gilbert…"

_'__Gilbert…?'_ Oz thought, his brow wrinkling in confusion as he hid his face between his knees once again and shakes his head denial.

He didn't know a _Gilbert._ No one knew _him_; no one knew who _Oz_ was. Because who exactly was he? Where exactly does he belong?

"Remember me? I'm the security guard…" Gilbert continues to try and persuade the teenager to look up at him and remember who he was. "We just met in this cafeteria Oz…" Gilbert tries a small smile and tries coaxing the blonde teen out of his stupor and delusional state of mind.

_'__What exactly is happening to him? I never saw a patient act this way before—wait, scratch that—I know a girl who has split personalities that practically lives inside the hospital, and I saw her act out before…But I never would've guessed that Oz would have the same disorder.'_ Gilbert thought, wondering just what exactly it was that he should do to help out Oz.

What exactly did this teenager go through? And why was he pleading to his own father…?

"Father…Is going to punish me…" Oz whispers.

Gilbert froze on the spot and held his breath.

"He'll punish me for talking to you…Please…Leave me alone…Please…." Oz whispers a plea as he hugs his knees closer and buries his face in between his knee-caps as he tries squirming back and closer to the wall behind him.

Oz felt the need to escape, his father didn't want him to have friends, his father told him many times that friends would only _'drag him down'_. His father wanted nothing to do with other people that had actually cared for him in the past; his father hated other people as much as he hated his own son.

The blond teen whimpers pitifully and bites down on his bottom lip harshly and manages to tear open the sensitive skin. His father only hated him more when he started crying, it showed a sign of weakness, and that's exactly why his father despises him. He was too goddamn weak to even _be_ his son.

From what Gilbert could tell, this boy's father…Might have been abusing his son…

_'__That bastard!'_ Gilbert roars inside his head. "Oz…I'm not going anywhere…" Gilbert kept reminding himself not to touch Oz while he's in a state of confusion.

But it was getting harder and harder to do so, Gilbert wanted desperately to grab the boy by the shoulders and shake the boy awake.

"Please…Look at me." Gilbert tries again, this time in a more soothing and calmed tone of voice. Every time he inches closer towards the huddled and scared looking Oz, Oz would only whimper and close-in on himself further. What else was there for him to do?

He didn't want to inject the boy with a sedative, or with an analgesic, because then Oz would be out of it for a couple days. And Gilbert knew well enough that if he _did_ inject someone again, he would be no better than the other security guards that work there with him. He would never stoop to their level, the other security guards hide behind their needles and try injecting everyone with a drug—that would numb and dull their senses for at least a couple of days at the most—just because the patients didn't listen to them. And Gilbert knew that he wasn't cruel enough to go through with it…Especially injecting a sedative on _Oz._ So what was there for him to do?

"Oz…"Gilbert whispers, smiling small as he raises his hand and gently eases it on the boy's blonde head.

All the while, cursing at himself for casually putting his hand on top of a delusional patient. He knew better than this…But he also knew that if he didn't…Then he had no other choice but to sedate the boy.

Oz freezes at the touch and his breathing hitches inside his throat at that unfamiliar hand resting on top of his head; he all but squeezes himself into the wall. "Who…?" He whispers, opening his eyes but still keeping his head buried between his knees.

"Oz…It's me, Gilbert." Gilbert smiles. He managed to get a response from the boy, now all that's left he needed to do, was calm the boy, have him look up at him, and have him realize what he's doing, and that he needs to get his surroundings together again.

Gilbert would not dare punish this boy; he would further hate himself if he ever did, because Oz didn't have a clue on what exactly he was doing, so it really wasn't his fault.

Oz whimpers and continues to bite on his bottom lip. "Gilbert…?" He remembers a face, a warm face, unruly black hair…Black clothes…And piercing golden eyes. Gilbert, Gilbert Nightray was a security guard that worked…At the Pandora Hearts Hospital!

In a flash of recent images and memories, Oz now remembered what it was he was doing, what it was that he was _going_ to do, and also knew that he was in a hospital inside of the cafeteria, and also knew that Gilbert was there again.

_'__He came to…Calm me…? But…That really isn't in the security guards job description…Is it…?' _Oz thought uncertainly, before he peeks up from behind his knees and blinks at the tears blurring his vision, until finally, he catches the sight of cafeteria workers surrounding them, catches the sight of the security guards that had just come bustling in through the cafeteria doors, and finally, his eyes rest upon the golden eyes he was searching for.

"Gilbert…" Oz repeats his name; his bloodied bottom lip quivering as he all but threw himself in the security guards arms and buries his face within the black confines of the long black trench coat belonging to Gilbert. "I'm sorry Gilbert…" He apologizes. His eye's still blinking back the tears as he tries calming the beating of his racing heart and the throbbing of his head. Blacking out really does take a toll on his body, only because he hadn't had an episode this badly in weeks, but he was doing it again…He was beginning to forget, he was beginning to black out again. But what exactly did he say this time? He can't even remember…

"No problem…" Came the unsure reply of Gilbert, who ever so slowly, wraps his right arm around the small form of Oz—who had wrapped himself around his torso tightly—and gave the boy a firm one armed hug.

_'__Oh my God, he's hugging me! And in front of staff workers too! Damn it this is embarrassing! Now what am I supposed to do!? Do I shove him off? Do I—!' _

"Gilbert…?"

Gilbert broke out of his thoughts and looks down at the blonde head resting in the middle of his chest.

Oz worries his lip with his teeth, winces at the feeling of his teeth scraping harshly against his unusually sensitive lips, then clears his throat and peeks up at Gilbert. "I…Blacked out. I didn't mean to, but I just—" Oz tries to explain as he gives the black-haired man an apologetic expression but was caught off from his sentence when he saw Gilbert shaking his head at him.

Gilbert rest a hand on top of Oz's messy blonde hair again. "You don't need to tell me why Oz, you just need to calm down so I can take you back to your room to rest. Just focus on breathing, alright?" Gilbert asks as he then began smoothing back the teenager's blonde hair with a small reassuring smile.

Oz smiles back and nods his head in agreement. "Alright…" He rests his head back down on top of Gilbert chest and giggles lightly. "Gilbert treats me like a child." He whispers.

Gilbert's hand freezes in-mid sweeping back of Oz's blonde hair and felt his face heat up instantly once he realized what he was doing. "I-I-I-I'm…J- just—" He stutters hurriedly as he then lightly wriggles away from Oz.

Only to have Oz hold him tighter in place. "It's alright." Oz quickly explains. "It's…Soothing." He mumbles as his eyes slowly fall shut.

Gilbert sneaks a peek down at the boy wrapped around his stomach, to see that both Oz's emerald coloured eyes were closed. And he couldn't help but smile at the gentle and calm look the boy had.

_'__But he really should let go of me so I can get him to rest in his own bed…' _He thought, before he shrugs his shoulders. _'Or I can just let him rest here and—'_

"Gilbeeeert!"

Gilbert's back instantly tenses at the sound of the _painfully_ familiar voice coming from behind him.

"You took off so suddenly that I didn't get a chance to ask you somethiiiiiiing!" Whined the white-haired man, who was steadily approaching him from behind.

Gilbert quickly grabs hold of Oz's small shoulders and throws the poor sleepy looking boy away from his own body with a bright red blush staining his cheeks as he whips his head over his shoulder. "B-Break!" He squeaks in surprised fright.

Oz grumbles under his breath and rubs his eye. "Who's Break?" he mumbles sleepily with a short yawn.

Once Oz looks up, he sees a man, probably in his mid-twenties, with pure white and messy hair tied back with a simple purple ribbon as the rest of the pure white tresses of hair, fall messily around his face as the black glasses on his face—and in front of a piercing red coloured eye—droop slightly with each hurried bounce he took in his steps, as a bright smile was stretched far too widely across the sickly pale featured face of the man—that dressed just as oddly as his personality seemed to be, the man wore black boots with a dark purple three piece suit with a matching purple top hat worn atop his white head, at the same time he wore a pure white doctor's coat that hung just a tad bit too loosely down and passed his shoulders, as a brown coloured satchel hung from one side of his shoulder and down to his hip as he scurried across the cafeteria floor until he stood just behind the stiff and rigged back of Gilbert Nightray.

"My, my, getting a bit _too_ friendly with the new patient, aren't we Gilbert?" Break states unabashedly, with a wicked smile stretching across his face as he pokes the security guard in the back with the toe of his boot.

Gilbert flinches at the touch of his boot and hurriedly gets off the floor to point an accusing finger at Break's smirking face. "Yenno what I came here to do! And that was to calm the new patient down! Who is—by the way—named Oz Vessalius, and NOT _'new patient'_." Gilbert defends, crossing his arms firmly across his chest as he scowls deeply at the smirking white-haired idiot in front of him.

Oz wanted to point out to Gilbert that he had just called him 'new patient' not seconds after, until he notices the I.D Card that hung from the white-haired man's long white coat. He tilts his head to the side in confusion and gets up off the floor. "Who're—"

"—Excuse me, boy?" Break cuts the blonde patient off in his sentence as he turns his attention from the scowling security guard, to the blonde teenager by pushing away Gilbert's scowling face with his hand uncaringly.

Which Gilbert responds to that rude shove with a small yelp of surprise.

"_Is_ your name, Oz Vessalius?" The white-haired man asks, smiling happily at the blonde teenager standing before him.

Oz nods. "Of course I am." He replies confidently.

Break smiles wider. "Perfect! I've been wanting to have a word with you ever since you first got here Mr. Vessalius." He announces, going over to the teenager's side as he wraps an arm around the boy's shoulders. "Gilbert, you may follow along if you want to." He announces with a wave of his hand dismissively. "But I suggest you calm every one down here first." He then leads Oz away from Gilbert with a smile. "And then announce to the other patients that all is well in hospital land, Alright?" Break calls from over his shoulder as he then starts to lead Oz across the cafeteria, waving every staff member aside who got in their way to the door.

Gilbert bristles and points a finger at the retreating figure of Xerxes Break. "Why do I have to be the one that calms the situation down?" He snaps.

"Alright?" Break presses, more firmly and threatening than before as he sneers over his shoulder and over to Gil.

Who visibly shivers at the menacing smile and stiffly urges everyone to calm down and to go back to what they were doing before.

Break nods his head in appreciation and then leads Oz Vessalius out of the cafeteria doors and into the hallway of the hospital. "So tell me Oz, what exactly happened back there?" Break asks casually as they then walk down the hallway, smiling happily at every nurse that happens to pass them by and greeting them by tipping his top-hat down them.

Oz flinches at the casually asked question and wrings his hands together nervously. "Umm…I don't really know what happened actually…" Oz admits, then quirks an eyebrow up at the strange looking man and stops dead in his tracks inside the hallway.

Break stops and turns around as well once he notices Oz was giving him a skeptical expression.

Oz crosses his arms over his chest and glares heatedly at the white-haired stranger. "I know you're wearing a white Doctor's coat, but I don't even know your name! Who are you anyways? And where exactly are you taking me?" Oz questions, taking a cautious step back.

All too ready to turn tail and run away from this strange man.

Break smiles brightly as he takes off his hat and bows deeply in front of the skeptical looking teenager. "My name is Xerxes Break, you may call me Break of you like because everyone else calls me that. And I'm the Therapist, and Counsellor here." He announces, bowing deeply in front of the stunned looking teenager. "Pleased to make your acquaintance Oz Vessalius." He declares whole-heartedly as he bent back up right and straightens out his purple coloured top-hat on his head.

Oz's eyes widened in surprised momentarily after Break's introduction and hurriedly he shakes his head in refusal. "You gotta be kiddin me…No Doctor would go around looking and acting like a complete f—" Oz cuts his sentence short when he notices Break's lip start to quiver. "Geh…" Oz—now feeling slightly disturbed that a man that old would even stoop to a low like that and visibly pout in front of others—took another cautious step back.

"Oz is being mean!" Break cries.

Causing Oz to flinch at the horrid noise.

"And after I only got acquainted with him too!" Break shouts out in dismay as he hides his face with both his hands and turns around to put his back to Oz's face as he heavily sobs into his hands.

Oz sighs heavily in defeat—and in slight annoyance—and already he had a feeling that he wouldn't get along with Break that well, Therapist and Counsellor aside, the man was just plain crazy!

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry." Oz says in regret, but behind the tone of regret and sympathy, was a perfectly hidden away tone of annoyance and frustration. "Where was it that you were taking me Break?" The teen asks more gently, smiling small despite his raging nerves.

Break whips around with a smirk and throws his hands up in the air. "To my office! I need to confirm a few things, ask you a few questions, yenno. Just the normal, usual stuff every patient has to go through when they first arrive here, nothing out of the ordinary." Break smiles. "Mmkaye pumpkin?" He later says as he goes rushing over to grab Oz by the collar of his white dress shirt and all but drags the teenager around the hospital and down the halls.

And all the while, Break was laughing like a mad man, as Oz tried desperately to keep his face hidden with both his hands covered over his face in embarrassment.

* * *

_First of all, I'm sorry if things seem too speedy and rushed in these most recent chapters, it's because I just wanted to get these things out of the way before I start the more serious chapters :) which are steadily following along any moment now..._

_Also..._

_I don't know which Counsellor I have here...Whether it's "Counsellor", or if it's spelt like "Councillor". Should I just put Therapist? And cancel out the counsellor? I don't even know..._

_Hope you guys liked this chapter though :) I'm still working on my other chapters in this story (which is almost up to chapter 13)...And as I said in the first chapter, my updating in this story will be slow. Almost non-existent, but please bear with me ._. (Again) But for the last couple of days now, I've been updating fast. But just to warn you. All that will be over soon. I just felt like uploading a fast chapter for the hell of it. Hope you enjoyed it._

_And I hope the characters are more IN-character now. I SWEAR TO LORD JESUS, that I'm trying to get them right and IC. Oz really comes off as OOC for me in my story, so maybe he is? And maybe it should stay that way? Your opinion?_

_Tah!_


	4. Interview

_Enjoy...I took time off work for this people!_

* * *

Chapter 4: Interview.

_-Oz has his mind back together again, but for how long? The white-haired man introduced himself as a Counsellor and a Therapist by the name of Xerxes Break, but could Oz really trust him despite that? And just WHY is it that Oz finds himself in the most difficult situations?-_

"So tell me Oz." Break announces from the doorway just as he closes it behind himself, going over to his oak-wood desk he plops himself inside his leather chair with a small "oof" as he then takes out a small box of treats and candy from within his desk's drawer, and opens them in a rush of excitement.

Oz, uncertainly, takes a seat across from the crazed Therapist and folds his legs to sit Buddha style inside the chair. "What is it you wanna know Break?" Oz smiles brightly once he's comfortable.

Break frowns at the obviously fake smile, but says nothing otherwise as he hums under his breath and pops a hard candy into his mouth with a smirk. "Why are you here?" He asks, rolling the candy rather noisily inside his mouth with his tongue as he waits for an answer from the teen.

Oz looks up at the ceiling in thought and shrugs his shoulders with a smile. "I don't really know why, I think my father only wanted me here so I can get out of his hair." Another casually shrug here. "I don't think I really need to be here, but then again, what else is going to stop my random fits of hysteria and sudden black outs?" Oz then finishes with a smile stretched widely across his face. "I don't know why I get these random black outs, but maybe I can get my head together in here and figure it out on my own!" He announces in sudden confidence.

Break felt the need to roll his eyes, or rather, his eye.

So he did, without being noticed by Oz that is, and rests his elbows upon the wooden desk as he cracks open the candy inside his mouth with a loud crunch. "Maybe…Or maybe you actually do need to be here for reasons you are not aware of?" Break smirks.

Oz tilts his head, finger to his lip. "Huh?" He says unknowingly.

Break already felt his will power—his will power of being able contain his emotions, anger being the number one emotion on the list—slip away completely when it came to this rather difficult patient, said difficult patient also _knew_ that he was being difficult, so what Break already knew of Oz's personality, was that Oz really liked intentionally being a little jerk. And what Break also easily caught notice of when it came to Oz Vessalius, was that this innocent, naïve, and happy-go-lucky air and look he had created and surrounded himself with, was nothing more than a charade, a mask that Oz has put up in front of others as a way to keep them at bay, and keep them unaware of the deep depression, guilt, and bouts of hysteria, unknown to the people around him, to have them thinking that everything was okay, everything that he's doing, was nothing out of the ordinary, and that other's should not be worrying about him.

And that to Break, was all too obvious…Why so obvious, that he was beginning to think that Oz had a lot more complex thoughts and feelings than what he makes him out to be. Something else is going on inside Oz Vessalius's head, and Break was damn sure he would be able to crack into it in little over a month.

Break then smiles brightly and goes for another candy from within the purple and pink box. "If you do not know why you're here, then maybe you have yet to figure it out yourself?" Break explains. "What was the situation in your recent school?" Break suddenly asks as he looked down at Oz's folder lain atop his desk before he looks back up to Oz. "What exactly did you do to get you expelled? And what exactly happened afterwards?"

Oz visibly flinches at the mention of his school and clears his throat. "Well…"

* * *

_Three Weeks Ago…_

_Oz runs into the boy's bathroom inside the boarding school called "Lutwidge Academy" and hurriedly locks the bathroom door behind him before he runs over to the sink and drops his book-bag to the floor, bending over in front of the sink and mirror, he starts splashing water over his face._

_'__I did it again..!' He shouts at himself as he tightly shuts both his eyes and whimpers quietly in front of the sink._

_He opens his eyes and looks down at his hands, both of his knuckles were bruised and a horrid colour of dark purple as small cuts could easily be seen littered across his knuckles, blood pooled forth from his wounded hands, but most, if not all of the blood, weren't exactly his._

_Oz shakes his head in disgust and quickly washes both his hands under the cool spray of the water and rubs his wounded hands free from the blood. Some blood was his own, but most blood belonged to that of the 11__th__ graders, all three of the 11__th__ grader boy's, were horribly bruised and bleeding and probably somewhere inside the school looking for him, either that, or they were in the school's infirmary getting their broken noses and cut up lips looking after._

_Oz shakes his head a second time to relieve him of the frightening memory…Or to be more accurate, lack-there-of._

_Because he had no recognition of ever hitting all three of those boys, nor the memory of what exactly happened when he took on all three of them at the same time, and he definitely doesn't remember what exactly he did in order to get all three of them, bruised and battered._

_But he does remember what sent him over the edge._

_He heard all three of the boys talking very…Well, to be blunt, he heard all three of them talking absolutely fucking disgusting about his sister! While he stood just in front of them no less!_

_Oz growled under his breath and balled his bruised hand into a fist, but then began hissing painfully through his clenched teeth when both his hands starting throbbing painfully and quickly he released and relaxed his hand._

_'__I got them good then…If my knuckles are hurting this badly…' Oz thought, a disheartening smile momentarily stretching across his face, before he sank down to his knees and looked down at both his hands. 'Why…? Why does this happen to me…? Why do I suddenly black out when my emotions get the better of me…? What started it all…?'_

_Oz looks up towards the fluorescent lights above his bright blonde head and chuckles under his breath. "When did it all go wrong…?" He asks, mostly to himself as he brought a hand up to his head to sweep his blonde bangs back, only to have them fall back into place in front of his nose and framing his face._

_"__Oz Vessalius, report to the Head Master's office immediately…!"_

_Oz flinches as the strict tone of voice from the intercom and sighs heavily. "F…Father is going to kill me for sure…" Oz then starts to tremble as he gets up from the floor, he quickly grabs his book-bag and heads out of the bathroom to await his doom from the Head Master._

_"__You are such a troublesome child!" His father's booming voice echoed throughout the study._

_Oz hangs his head and nods. "I know…But…I'm sorry father, I—"_

_And what Oz was going to say was "I blacked out again and had no idea what I did to those boys" Until his Father—Xai—cut his sentence short._

_"—__I don't want to hear your excuses!" Xai slammed both his fists down on top of his wooden desk as he glares heatedly down at his "son". "Do you know how much it cost me to put you in a boarding school as good as that one? On top of all that, I had to practically BEG the Head Master to enroll you into that school, only because he heard all about your little 'incident' in the last school you went to! What were you thinking starting a fight with three of the boys?"_

_"__They started it Father!" Oz defends. "They were talking about Ada like she was—!"_

_"—__Ada would've defended herself! She's much older than you Oz! Not only that but she knows how to handle herself more PROPERLY than you ever could!"_

_Oz flinches and takes a cautious step back. 'Ada wasn't even there! What would you know?' Is what he wanted so desperately to say to his Father, but he knew perfectly well that if he even so much as raised his voice, or simply argued and talked back to his father, more punishment would be in store for him._

_So all Oz could do, was nod his head, and agree to every word his father spat at him._

_Xai sighs heavily under his breath in disappointment. "Now what am I going to do with you? I can't hire another tutor at the moment. Who in their right minds would tutor a hooligan like you?" He spat, glaring daggers down at his sons head, which was lowered dismissively down in front of him._

_Xai felt his nerves get the better of him, and before he knew it, he was striding quickly around his desk, and had his son by the collar of his shirt._

_"__YOU better get you shit together BOY." He seethed, his "sons" eyes stared up at him widely in shock._

_Xai would admit that he was never one to lose his temper so easily, but when it came down to his "son", he had no control over his emotions, everything about this boy enraged him. Whatever happened to the boy? What exactly made him turn out this way? So wretched and…Pitiful…?_

_"__Why are you suddenly acting out? Did you…" He lowered his voice, suddenly cautious about the volume of his voice. He didn't want the maids hearing word about his little "argument" between his son and himself. "Did you stop taking your medication?"_

_Oz suddenly drops his gaze to the floor and bites his bottom lip in worry. "…Y-yes…I don't want to take them anymore…They make me feel weird, they make me dizzy and forgetful about the littlest of things…And I know they weren't working."_

_"__Forgetful? That is exactly why you were taking them!" Xai suddenly shouts, dropping his lowly son to the floor, where the teenage boy loses his balance and falls to his bum at his feet. "Your therapist prescribed them to you in order for you to feel better, to CURE you of your delusions and your DEPRESSION." Xai huffs impatiently and scoffs soon after. "Depression… Why on earth are you depressed? You have a home, you have a father that works for his money, you have maids and all the servants any child could ever hope for and want. So why are you so depressed? Why are you so…Abnormal?"_

_Oz closes his eyes tightly and shakily gets up from the floor. 'I'm…Abnormal…? No one else feels the way I feel? Does this depression and anxiety I feel…Make me abnormal from the rest of the world…?'_

_Oz shakes his head. "I…Don't know why…I'm just…" 'Sad…? But why am I so sad…?'_

_"__Look up and talk if you're speaking to me." He heard the impatient tone of voice his father held, and quickly Oz looks up to meet his father's impassive gaze._

_"__I don't know why I'm depressed, the therapist at school told me that it may have to do with the death of mother…And…" Oz couldn't explain anymore, if he told his father the reason why he's feeling these 'abnormal' feelings, then surely he would get even angrier at him._

_"__Speak up." His father pressed._

_Oz shakes his head. "I can't…"_

_"__You can't what?" His father's voice snapped._

_Oz starts to tremble as he lifts his eyes to meet his father's. "And…It may also have something to do with…You…Father…" His voice trails off, suddenly Oz was very aware of how close his father was in front of him. His body starts to shake as he notices the flicker of anger he saw in his father's cold eyes._

_"__Are you blaming me now?" His father scoffs. "You are really trying to pin your whole behaviour and change of attitude on me? You don't know your place boy." Xai took a step forward and slaps his son on the cheek._

_Oz stumbles backwards, but quickly he regains his balance. He would not dare fall helplessly to the floor in front of his father, not while he was this angry, it would only make his father hate him all the more and call him other horrible names more so than he already does._

_"__I'm sorry father, I didn't mean to make it sound that way. I was just trying to say that my home-life isn't how I expected it to be when mother died." Oz hurriedly explains._

_'__I thought I would get more sympathy from you…But instead, you despised me more than usual.' Oz thought, caressing his now reddened cheek with a bruised hand._

_"__Tch. Bruises. You're barbaric." His father growled, easily catching the sight of his son's bruised up knuckles. "Can't control yourself, so you start lashing out on innocent people? You really are continuing to annoy and frustrate me with your problems Oz." Xai turned on his heel and heads back to his leather seat behind his wooden desk and drums his fingers on top of the wood. "I don't know what else to do with you. You stopped taking your medications, complaining about how they weren't working, and this goes and happens when you stop. You fight people and have no idea that you did…" Xai sighs heavily and spins around inside his chair to face the large and open window, turning his back to his "son"._

_"__Your depressed, you have night terrors, you have insomnia on top of that AND anxiety…You're an absolute WRECK."_

_Oz nods his head and lowers his hand from his cheek. "Yes…I am…" He agrees. He is, isn't he? Who on earth could have this many emotional problems in their life?_

_"__In my eyes, that's enough to send you to the Psych-ward." His father growled. Then suddenly spins around in his chair to glare heatedly down at his son. "And that's exactly what I'm going to do, they have a program here in Atlanta that takes in SICK people like you. They also have schooling programs inside the hospital as well, that's where you can get your education. Not only that, but they can CURE you of all your abnormalities." Xai gets up from his chair and reaches for the phone sitting on top of his desk. "I'm sending you there right away. The sooner your cured, the better." His father deadpanned as he began dialing the numbers._

_Oz then turns away from his "father" once his "father" waves him away uncaringly._

_'__I have no say in this? Of course I don't…My father…Is a stubborn man. I can't say two words without him having to either slap the bejesus out of me, or throw my own words back at my face. I have no place here…And I have no place outside of here…Where do I belong…? Where do I go from here? Do I have no future at all…?'_

_Oz looks up from the floor, and blinks in confusion as he's faced with his bed. 'When did I walk here…?' He thought dubiously. But then he shakes his head and sighs softly. "I'm forgetting everything so easily…I don't want to go to a place where they feed me more drugs." He announces quietly to himself as he goes over to his bed, and dives for the softy of his pillow and hugs it close to his form. "Where do I belong…?"_

* * *

Oz shakes his head and drops his gaze to the floor in front of his lace-less shoes. "And that's what happened at school." He didn't bother explaining the whole situation thoroughly to Break, he cut out the parts of what his father had said, what his father had done as punishment, and what Oz put himself through as a way to punish himself...He also didn't bother telling Break about how he took medication before, but then stopped.

Break hummed in appreciation at Oz's explanation, but he still felt the need to pursue the entire situation.

He felt that Oz was holding something back in that little story of his. "And how is home-life for you Oz?" Break asks casually as he starts jotting down the story that Oz has just told him, and making key notes on the matter as well.

Oz shakes his head and wrings his hands together nervously on his lap.

Break easily caught notice of the nervous twitching and stopped writing in order to focus his entire attention on the teenage boy.

Oz clears his throat and adjusts himself more comfortably on the seat. "W-well…It's not bad, but it's not all that great either…My…Mother…Passed away two years ago, and since then…My father…Wasn't exactly a father anymore." He drops his head and stares emotionless at his hands in his lap. "He doesn't like me very much, he's become very strict since my mother's passing, and rules are being piled up on top of other rules. I have no say in the matter though, because I understand what my father is doing." Oz smiles sadly and looks up to meet Break's attentive stare. "He's just worried I'll die on him like my mom, that's all. That's why I'm here." Oz confirms this with a small nod of his head.

_'__That has to be the reason why, right? I mean…Father didn't exactly hate me from the beginning, he was just too busy with his work to spend time with me, I can understand that as well. And he sent me here, because he was worried I would only continue to act out more. He doesn't hate me, he just hates what I'm going through.' _Oz thought, as he looked out the window that was situated just beside himself to the left of the room.

But…Who was he trying to convince? Himself? Or Break?

Oz wrinkles his brow in confusion and gives a silent sigh.

"Alright, and I understand that you have been prescribed medications from your last Therapist, some Anti-Depressants?" Break asks, going over the file in his hand, before peering back up at Oz.

Oz's body went rigged and sweat licked at the side of his head. _'Damn it! Now what am I supposed to say? Lie?'_

"Why exactly did she prescribe you those medications?" Break asks as he goes through Oz's hospital records. Taking note of every pill Re-fill that Oz made, which was oddly, only one re-fill since he was prescribed the medication. _'That must mean that he stopped taking them after the first bottle…' _Break thought.

Oz shrugs his shoulders, wanting to be as casual as possible. "She decided that—from all the stories I was telling her and all of the half-truths that I had to lie to her—she decided that I was crazy and needed to be on a certain pill, I guess." He shrugs again, smiling brightly. "She was a weird old woman, She must've thought that I needed them, but I stopped taking them after I finished my first bottle." Oz admits.

There really was no other way to explain it, he didn't feel the need to take them, he thought that he was strong enough to live without taking Anti-Depressants, and that he was old enough to solve his own problems, without looking towards drugs as an alternative and basically, a last resort call.

"Why did you stop taking them?" Break asks as he bridges his hands together within his long white sleeves of his Doctor's coat and stares intently at the blonde-haired boy sitting before him.

Oz scratches the back of his head and chuckles nervously. "I was beginning to forget the littlest things, and I also felt dizzy. And I just felt like they weren't working, either than that though, I felt like I didn't _need _to be taking them."

Break jots down Oz's explanation within the boy's hospital folder and looks back up at Oz. "And why is that?" he asks, taking a candy from the box and popping it into his mouth.

"Because I think that I have to deal with things on my own." Oz states seriously. "I don't need to be taking drugs; I can face these problems myself and deal with them by myself. I think that taking medications is a last resort option. And I'm not at my lowest at the moment, so I don't need to be taking medications. I'm fine doing things on my own." Oz explains thoroughly and earnestly. There really was no need to be lying to Break's face, but he did feel the need to sprinkle tiny white lies here and there just for the sake that Oz only wanted to deal with his own problems by himself without the help of others, if he didn't, then he would only be considered weak, wouldn't he?

Break's expression turns decisive as he stares intently at Oz's expression. The boy looked completely serious, but he still felt that Oz wasn't opening up; he still held the air of someone hiding secrets. Oz's body language already said that much, but the boy was complex. A certain individual that Break felt the need to be alert with, if he wasn't at his best, then he would fail as a therapist and counsellor.

Break suddenly smiles brightly and pushes the box of candies and treats towards Oz with a grin. "Thank you for answering all the questions I needed answers to Oz! And because of that, you may have a day off as a reward."

Oz smiles brightly with hope dancing happily inside his eyes. "Really? Oh thank you so much Br—"

"—But starting tomorrow, you _will_ begin attending your therapy from yours truly." Break gestures towards himself with a bright smile and points to Oz's horrified face. "And you will _also_ have to stick to the hospital's programme and or schedule, you will begin your schooling here inside the therapy ward, and I will also assign a…_Bodyguard,_ so to speak, to escort you and keep an eye on you as well." Break winks mischievously at the oddly quiet boy, whose face then went two shades too white in his horror when hearing that last announcement.

"But whhyyyy? And by who?" Oz shouts out in dismay. "I'm not a trouble maker! I just—"

"—Have random bouts of hysteria and uncontrolled fits of unconscious behaviour!" Break finishes for the boy as he claps his hands together happily.

Oz quickly gets up from the chair he was sitting in, in front of Break's desk and points at the Therapist's face with rage easily seen in his expression. "What are you trying to say? That because of those things, I'm considered dangerous to you people?" Oz shouts, heatedly staring into Break's single red eye.

"Yes, Oz." Break announces with complete honesty.

Oz lowers his pointing finger and takes a step back involuntarily.

"Because of those 'Things', we can't exactly have you going about the hospital, therapy ward _and_ the in-patient bed rooms when we all—'all'." Break mimes quotation marks in the air above his white-head. "—Being the counsellors, the other therapist, the psychiatrists, the registered nurses, social workers, activity therapists, mental health specialists, addiction counselors, and the educational specialists, we all _need_ to get a good look of how you interact with others around you, and the way you carry yourself while in their care." Break clears his throat before continuing on. "You, Oz, will be evaluated by many of the hospitals professionals, in order for them to determine your, excuse my bluntness, but 'disorders'." Break explains as he gets up from within his own chair and casually walks around his desk to lay a hand upon Oz's slender shoulder with a small smile. "In other words, we can't exactly have someone with uncontrolled fits of unconscious behaviour interacting with the other patients when we don't know what is causing you to have these symptoms. We need to get to know you better, in order for you to walk like a free man around these hospital grounds—without the need of a bodyguard. So you must understand our apprehension and hesitation when it comes down to you, yes?" Break finishes with a small tilt of his head and a kind smile.

Oz drops his head in uncertainty, before he sighs under his breath and looks up at Break with a smile. "Well, when you put it that way, it does sound like I do need a bodyguard to keep an eye on me. Who knows when I might have a 'incident' like that again? By the way, who ya gonna assign to be my bodyguard?" Oz asks in excitement. "It feels like I'm a movie star!" He suddenly announces as he shuffles his feet in enthusiasm.

Break chuckles darkly and holds a hand to his chin and stomach to contain his laughter.

Oz felt a chill run up his spine at the dark scene before him; Break's pure white-hair falling over his eyes as it shrouded the man's face within the shadows of the pure white curtain as the Therapist/Counsellor only continued to giggle like a mad man as he moved and contorted into awkward laughing positions in front of him.

"Oh, I have a person in mind already Oz my boy." Break chuckles sinisterly.

"I really wish you hadn't called me that." Oz shivered in disgust. "You sound absolutely _creepy_ if you give me a nickname like that." Oz states bluntly.

"Also, I haven't been able to mention this before, given that you just gave me a whole life story and all—" Break mentioned, waving his hand in a casual matter before continuing on. "—But, we have a strict clothing regulation that permits no shoelaces beyond the front gates of the hospital, absolutely no accessories either, and that includes, suspenders, belts, bracelets, necklaces, rings, and any body piercings." Break announces with an evil gleam to his one showing red eye.

"WHAAAAT?" Oz shouted out in dismay, clutching his suspenders in one hand and his belt in the other. "But!—but!—But I can't go aaaanywheeere without my accessories! They are what _make_ the clothing I'm wearing awesome!" Oz argued.

All the while Break only continued to giggle at Oz's demise.

* * *

_What what? What's this? A body guard? Who? *Dun dun duuuuuun* (My dramatic music -.-)_

_Anyways..._

_I hope I did Oz better this time :) Gilbert didn't show up at all in this chapter o.O Don't worry! Our lil-idiot-Gil will be back! :D Don't cry fan girls!_

_Also..._

_The time skip won't start, yet, not until the 6th chapter, but I'll give you a heads up :) mmkay pumpkin?_

_And again..._

_Like I said, sometimes I upload chapters fast, but then again I go back to being a slow human being -.- but i have a good excuse, lol i started work just yesterday and for the entire week last week, i was doing training. who cares? ok! Hope your still following this story :)_


	5. Guard

Chapter 5: Guard.

_-Oz and Break got well acquainted with. But now it's suddenly decided that Oz needs a Bodyguard? And for how long? And WHO exactly is up to watch Oz?-_

Gilbert Nightray walks out of the Main Security Office's employees bathroom and ruffles his midnight black curls in frustration as he makes his way to where the Security Camera Tapes are located and plops himself down in the black leather seat situated just in front of the security monitors; it has been a rough day.

And that's saying something considering that he worked here for well over a year.

But when a new patient suddenly shows up out of the blue—it seems like—he just couldn't get his head straight. He's constantly always finding himself worrying about what the other patients think of the new patient, whether or not the new patient is compatible with others, and _if_ or _when_ he has to subdue the new patient with a sedative on the patients very first day.

For Gilbert, he very much liked routines, and the hospital had one hell of a routine that he's gotten used to, but because of the appearance of a new patient, he's suddenly very aware that he works at a mental hospital, or to be more accurate and less judging, the hospitals "Out Reach Program" for the mentally disabled and the chemically depended individuals.

But because Oz Vessalius—said "new patient"—suddenly made his appearance very well known within the hospitals therapy ward—within the very first day of him ever being here—Gilbert was feeling pretty much on edge, and had him practically waiting for the _inevitable_ to happen. What made him so pessimistic and cynical at this point is beyond him, but he had the inkling feeling that it was all Oz's doing with just him being…Well, HIM.

Oz Vessalius, in Gilbert's opinion, is a very complex, confusing, mischievous, secretive—alright, who isn't secretive when it comes down to the grit hm?—teenager, but beyond all that, the boy just seemed…Well…_Normal_. To the point where Gilbert often finds himself questioning the entire hospitals staff members and employees, about whether or not Oz really honest and for truly, belongs here.

It really doesn't seem like Oz did, his entire air surrounding him just seemed so…Natural, calming, and welcoming, that Gilbert really wanted to help Oz out himself and look out for him while he stayed inside the hospital, until the other staff members finally got the gist that Oz didn't really need to be here, and that he's perfectly fine and could be on his way.

_'__But then I'm back to where I started…' _Gilbert thought begrudgingly as he laid his head on the desk monitor in front of him with a long and tired sigh. _'I'm back to the question, "why". Why do I suddenly want to protect him? And why did I suddenly get these ridiculous idea's? And WHY Oz Vessalius? What makes him so special?' _Gilbert groans aloud and pulls his head up from the desk to stare blankly at the Security cameras many monitor screens and looks into the screen of the cafeteria, and sighs under his breath.

_'__Oz…He had no idea what he was doing inside of the cafeteria this morning…What exactly made him have an…"Attack"…That badly in the first place? I heard him pleading to his "father" but…What does that even mean? And what was going through his head while he was under the dominating—and very scary looking—daze-like stupor? What exactly would Break call it anyways?' _Gilbert thought, than shakes his head free of the white-haired moron. "If I asked him, he would only tease me and call me something like 'moronic little Gil' or something along those lines…" Gil growls in aggravation as he angrily folds his arms over his chest and glares at the security cameras monitoring Break's office, then blinks in confusion when he sees both Break and Oz smiling and gesticulating wildly in front of the security camera.

"What the hell are those two doing?" Gilbert questions loudly as he quickly gets up from the office chair and strides towards the door.

"Where you going Gilbert?"

Gilbert turns towards the voice and thumbs into the direction of the door. "Break and some new patient are being complete idiots and smiling into a security camera, I'm gonna go check what the hell is the matter with them." Gilbert deadpans with a scowl pressed firm on his face as he explains his situation to another fellow security guard—who goes by the name of Fang, what his actual name was, is a mystery to Gilbert—as he quickly dashes out of the Main Security Office's door and quickly strides towards the hospitals main elevator located on the far left hand side of the hospital and just as he presses the button to the elevator doors, he hears the tapping of shoes heading straight towards him from behind.

With his back instantly tensing at the unfamiliar aura of the person coming steadily towards him, Gilbert steadily reaches for his gun holster wrapped securely around his right hand thigh, and quickly he unbuckles the fastening of the holster and turns around.

"Easy big brother, are you _that_ ready to get rid of me?"

Gilbert blinked at his long blonde-haired younger brother and sighs heavily under his breath. "You scared the crap outta me…" He grumbled, lowering his hand from his holster, he continues to press the button to elevator doors to open. "What're you doing here anyways Vincent? Its…" Gilbert then looks down to his silver wrist watch and narrows his eyes at the time. "Its 10:20, shouldn't you be in the Day Room planning with the other patient's on the weekend schedule?" Gilbert questions, raising an eyebrow at his younger brother as he only continues to press the elevators button.

Vincent shakes his head with a mischievous little chuckle slipping pass his lips. "Oh, brother, you are so serious when it comes to your job as a security guard." Vincent teases light heartedly.

Gilbert scoffs and looks over his shoulder. "Why shouldn't I be? It _is_ a hospital, and you ARE a patient here Vincent."

"Technically, I'm an OUT-patient, meaning I have free will to leave whenever I feel like it." The long-haired man defends, smirking at his older brother who only shrugs his shoulders without a care.

"Same difference. You're STILL a patient; so technically, you STILL have to listen to me, not only as a security guard but as your older brother." Gilbert argues, smiling softly at his younger brothers obvious displeased look, while still pressing the button to the elevator.

"Uhm, Gil?" Vincent calls, giving Gilbert a confused look.

"What?" Gilbert replies, his attention had been turned directly to his brother ever since he appeared behind the corner.

"Why are you still pressing the button? It was opened minutes ago." Vincent states with a chuckle.

Gilbert turns his head and felt an embarrassed blush quickly spreading across his face once he realizes that two nurses were already standing inside the elevator waiting for him to board with obvious displeasure and impatience seen in both of their expressions.

"I-I'm s-so sorry!" He weakly apologizes as he rushes forward and presses the elevators "close doors' button, all the while, glaring and scowling at Vincent.

"It's not my fault brotheeeeer!" He heard Vincent call once the elevator doors close with a light bang.

_'__Yeah, yeah.' _Gilbert thought, crossing his arms over his chest as he gave the nurses a fast glance and an apologetic—and absolutely _nervous_ looking—smile.

That only made the nurses uncomfortable and move away from him from inside the elevator.

So with a light sigh, he reminds himself never to speak to these nurses again.

* * *

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Was Gilbert's greeting to both of the world's weirdest duo once he stepped foot inside Break's Therapy Office.

Only to be faced with a sadistically grinning Therapist, and no sign of a blonde-haired teenager.

With a confused once over from Gilbert, he looks back to Break. "Where's Oz? I thought I saw him in here a little while ago…" He trails off, shutting the door behind him he takes two steps into the office.

"BOO!"

"AAAAGH!" Gilbert screams as he then falls face first to the floor after being tripped—with God only knew what, because at that moment, he couldn't see anything, only the deep red of Break's carpet and the stars floating in front of his eyes—and groans loudly as he holds his nose with a hand.

"Oopsie! You should watch where you're going Gil before you seriously hurt yourself!"

Gilbert growls under his breath and rolls over and onto his back once he heard that familiar voice from behind him. "Oz…Did you have to trip me to get my attention?" He shouts, holding his—now sore—nose with a hand as he heaves himself up into a sitting position on the floor.

Oz happily skips over to the fallen security guard with a bright smile and stops by his booted feet and offers out his small hand. "Oh c'mon Gil! Don't be such a downer!" He pouts. "I'll give ya a hand!" He offers happily.

Gilbert felt warmth seep into his body at the bright and energetic smile from Oz and couldn't help but offer his own hand. But reluctantly, because he suspected Oz was going to do something else just to further irk him.

Oz giggles happily at the nervous scowl of Gilbert's and tries hard to lift up the security guard and finally succeeds once Gilbert manages to get to one knee. "There!" He announces happily once Gilbert gets to his feet.

Gil manages a small smile, but that quickly turns to a frown once he hears a shrill wolf whistle from behind him.

"Well! If I didn't know any better, I would suspect that little Gil and banana head Oz go waaaaay back!" Break states mischievously from the top his desk as he crosses his leg over the other with a smirk plastered across his pale face.

Gilbert scowls at the hidden under tone of the Therapist and crosses his arms over his chest, choosing to ignore that little quip. "So why were the both of you, smiling like complete idiots into the camera?"

Oz visibly pouts and lightly kicks the security guard in his shin. "Idiots you say?"

Gilbert scowls at being kicked in his shin and rubs gingerly at it. "Well? What else was I going to call it?"

"We wanted you here to announce something very important to you concerning our new patient, Oz Vessalius." Break announces, gesturing over to the smiling blonde-haired teenager.

Gilbert quirks an eyebrow and looks over to Oz. "What's wrong?"

Oz smiles widely. "Nothing is wrong! I'm perfectly fine!" He waves dismissively. "Besides the fact that I'm a new patient at a mental hospital." He mutters with a small chuckle escaping his lips.

"We just wanted to inform you that because Oz is suffering from 'black outs' as he calls them." Break smiles over to Oz.

Who looks to Gilbert and waves with a smile.

"We took it into consideration because of that, he would need to be assigned to a bodyguard. Someone to keep him out of trouble, someone to watch out for any new and odd behaviours concerning him, and someone to come to his aid, in case of another 'black out' incident that might transpire." Break casually explains. "So we looked through many files and folders of the hospital security guards, and Oz picked out a fellow he would like to be assigned to." Break's smile widens considerably at this point.

Gilbert shivers at the knowing smile and looks over to Oz.

Who has the exact same expression upon his face as the white-haired Therapist. "Oh Giiillll…" Came the sing-song voice of Oz. "Wanna be my own personal body guard?" He continues to sing.

Gilbert wrinkles his brow in obvious displeasure and scowls over at Break. "And what? I get no say in this?"

"Well? Who else would the boy possibly want?" Break asks sarcastically. "Someone he barely knows and never seen before? Or someone he just met inside a cafeteria, someone who willingly got him pancakes, and someone who actually wanted to help him from his bout of hysteria?" Break suggests, rolling his single red eye. "C'mon Gilbert, I know you can be brighter than this. Which one would you pick?"

Gilbert's scowl deepens, but once he glances over to Oz, who is standing next to him with a small smile…He already made his decision.

Besides…It was him who wanted to help Oz in the first place, now he gets to prove it to Break and Oz that he can be a reliable person, and that he can be a trustworthy resource for Oz to confide in.

Gilbert sighs heavily under his breath and turns towards Oz.

Who quirks an eyebrow up at him and turns as well to face him.

Gilbert looks down at Oz, golden eyes staring intently into bright emerald, and he raises a hand over his heart. "I won't like it." Obvious lie. "But I'll be your bodyguard. Just agree not to trip me again, and then I won't have to resort to quitting my job as being your bodyguard, and throwing you to any security guard around at the time." Gilbert threatens, taking his hand that was over his heart, and holds it out for Oz to shake.

Oz smirks and grabs the out-stretched hand offered out towards him and shakes it once. "Deal." He announces with a grin before he reluctantly lets go of the larger hand.

Break grins widely and claps his hands together. "Great! Now—" Both of the occupants of the room groan loudly in annoyance. "Now, now, I only need the both of you to sign a contract, saying that you agree to the terms given to you by the counsellor—that is, me—and have Gilbert sign Oz's document folder, saying that you have looked over Oz during his time in the hospital, and then Oz will have to sign the same document, agreeing that he has been on surveillance by this person at this time, and we'll be done for the day!" Break announces happily, turning himself around from on top of his desk, reaches down between his legs for the drawer on the other side of his desk, pulls out two sheets of paper declaring that the papers were a contract of sorts, and Break spins himself back around and hands them both the papers and two pens with a wide grin across his face. "I have to be the one to witness the signing, and after I have signed both of the contracts as well, you two will be official body guard and the body that is agreeing to be guarded." Break declares jovially, raising both his arms in the air with a smile.

Gilbert grumbles something inaudible for both of the people in the room to hear, as he grabs a pen lain on top of the desk and bends over towards the contract ready to sign.

"Gee Gilbert." Oz muses. "I didn't think you would be so ready to be my body guard," The teenager states mischievously. "What made you change your mind about me? Before you seemed ready to get rid of me, but now you all too ready to watch over me…You're not planning to do something to me, are you Gil?" Oz states slyly, smirking all the while.

Break starts to giggle from the corner of his desk.

If Gilbert had coffee inside his mouth, he would be spraying it all over Break and the walls right now, because at that moment, he sputtered incomprehensively as he blushed all the way to the tips of his ears at such a suggestive sounding type of question.

What is with this boy?

Gilbert quickly shakes his head with a sigh, trying hard to subdue the blush that most likely took over the shade of his skin colour and scoffs loudly. "You make everything sound dirty." He grumbled over to Oz, flashing him a quick glare, before going back to signing his name on the papers.

Oz pouts in obvious displeasure at not being able to make the security guard uncomfortable or stutter hysterically, it would be no fun for Oz if he couldn't _at least_ make Gilbert do one out of those two small feats.

"There. Now what?" Gilbert asks Break, turning the page over to Break, who studied it in concentration, before the white-haired man nods his head and hands it back to Gilbert.

"Now, Oz, you have to sign this one, initial here, and I will have to be the one to sign the bottom." Break explains, pointing to the middle of the page for Oz's initials, and then pointing at a blank line scrawled at least two sentences down from the initial blank.

Oz smiles and leans over onto the desk to give his initial on the blank, then signs his full name onto the blank closest to the bottom. "There!" He announces happily, putting the pen down on top of his desk with a grin.

Gilbert hid his smile with a hand as he looked away from the pleased looking teenager to stare out of the window on the other side of the room.

Break quickly signs the bottom and holds out the contract towards both Gilbert and Oz with a grin. "The contract is now signed, I am the witness, and the counselor, and it is now said in ink that you are Oz Vessalius's bodyguard and you will take duty as his bodyguard serious."

Gilbert nods his head.

Oz nods as well and smirks over to Gilbert. "Hiya new bodyguard! Ready to lend me a hand and give me a tour of the Therapy Ward now? I still don't know the entire layout yet." Oz says with a small smile as he goes over to the corner of the door, to un-tie his suspenders from the large steel file cabinet, and the door-stopper on the other side.

_'__That's how he was able to trip me…' _Gilbert thought, shaking his head at the memory before he casts doubtful and suspicious looking golden eyes over to Break, who only shrugs with a small smile.

"It could prove to be helpful for Oz, if he had your company, Gilbert." Break whispers over to Gil with a secretive smile, as he turns away and goes over to a tall book shelf on the other side of the large expanse room.

Gilbert raises both his eyebrows in surprise, and before he could question Break's motive, he gets cut off from his own thoughts.

"Now if you two don't mind, I have work to do." Break announces, waving both his hands in a "shoo-ing" like manner towards the two.

Gilbert rolls his eyes and takes the suspenders from Oz's small hands, ignoring the teenager's small "hey!" of defense, as he strolls towards the door. "Come on Oz, I'll give you a tour." Gilbert announces in reluctance.

What the hell is Break up to?

Oz smiles brightly and skips over to the tall black-haired man's side, ignorant of the man's doubtful thoughts of the whole situation.

"Yay! And after, can I wear my suspenders and belt? I promise to be good!" Oz presses, holding his hands together in what looked like a prayer.

"No." Came Gilbert's serious reply. "There's a strict clothing regulation."

"I know that! Break already told me!" Oz sighs heavily. "But look at me!" Oz defends, gesturing to himself with obvious displeasure seen in both his eyes.

Gilbert does a once over on Oz, and quirks an eyebrow. "What about you? You look normal." He states easily.

"Exactly! Normal and _plain_…!" Oz pouts. "Who wants to be either of those two things? Gimme my belt at least! I'm dropping my pants!" He complains, holding the hem of his shorts in between his finger and thumb and pulls it out, to indicate how big they were from around his small waistline.

"Hah. Quit trying to fool me." Gilbert narrows his eyes in suspicion.

"I'm not! Agh!" Oz throws both his hands in the air in exasperation. "Gil! You're so difficult!"

"For obvious reasons…" The black-haired man grumbled.

Break couldn't help but roll his eye exasperatingly when the two arguing imbeciles finally left his room. He was already forming a headache from the two and their arduous and tiresome arguing. Which proved to be both pointless as it was irritating.

* * *

_Okay folks! The time skip will start on chapter 7! I thought it was chapter 6...but...heh heh...Guess I got myself mixed up...Don't blame me! I'm swamped!_

_Anyways..._

_I hope there's some people out there who like this story...Really would like some REVIEWS just to make sure my story is actually going somewhere on this fanfiction site._


	6. Friend

_Author-san, I like that. But people call me Hella-chan. Either or, I'm fine with it!_

* * *

Chapter 6: Friend.

_-Gilbert is now a 'bodyguard' for Oz. Oz is already proving to be quite a difficult person for Gilbert to keep track of, and the young teen couldn't have been happier because of that. But now that he's getting a full tour of the hospital grounds and all it has to offer, what does he think of the patients that go along with it? And what is up with this little girls behaviour?-_

Gilbert followed along behind the happily skipping and energetic Oz with a tired yawn and a grumble or two of displeasure.

He really wanted to nap, he hadn't even been given a break yet when the white-haired idiot—the therapist and or counsellor—gave him the news that he was now Oz's bodyguard from this day forward and until further notice.

And right _after_ that, he was told that he had to give Oz a tour of the entire hospital's layout of all the rooms, and the activity center.

Which was located on the other side of the hospital, out back onto the hospital's 'back-yard' so to speak, going through a small path surrounded by small trees and bushes, until finally hitting the pavement of the sidewalk, and passing through the small gate of the activity center, where any patient was allowed to go, once they have nothing left for them to do on their schedules and were allowed to go outside, along-side with an escort or two of course.

_'__So much walking…And we didn't even go through the entire hospital rooms yet…My legs are aching…' _Grumbled Gilbert inside his head, slumping his shoulders forward in defeat as he sighed again in discontent.

Oz abruptly turns around to face Gilbert with a pout easily seen across the features of his face as he points an accusing finger at the tall black-haired man. "That's the fifteenth time you sighed and I'm tired of hearing it! Either you tell me what's wrong and what's bugging you, or I jump on you and force the information out!" Oz states, grinning mischievously from ear to ear.

Gilbert purses his lip and shrugs his shoulders. "You won't be able to get me down; you'll hurt your back more than anything." Gilbert teases, smiling small despite the angry glare he was getting from Oz, that made him want to curl up in a fetal position and beg for forgiveness.

"Oh yeah?" Oz threatens, taking a step forward. "Want me to prove you wrong?" He smiles.

Gilbert braced himself and stood taller. "Bring it." He encourages, even though his mind screamed at him to not let Oz tackle him, because Oz could possibly injure his own small shoulder blade.

Oz let out a battle cry—that could make any warrior jealous—as he dove for Gilbert's ribs in a tackle.

Gilbert easily caught the flash of black in his peripheral vision, and turned his head towards it, even when he knew that he was going to be tackled by Oz, he just couldn't help but turn his attention to the black figure he thought he saw coming from around the corner.

Once Oz landed right into Gilbert's stomach, successfully spearing the taller and older male down to the floor, he groaned in slight discomfort at the dull pain erupting from his right shoulder blade as he lifted himself off of the security guard, who was lain out flat on his back with his golden eyes uncharacteristically wide in either shock or surprise as they stared straight up at the ceiling over-head.

"Hah!" Oz cheered, holding his sore shoulder blade in his hand. "I hurt myself, but it was worth being able to knock you down!" He smiled happily.

Gilbert scowled and lifted himself off of the floor, only managing in being able to pull his upper body off of the floor, being as how Oz was still practically sitting on top of his lower half with his legs out spread at his sides.

"Where does it hurt?" Gilbert grumbles, eyeing the boy in front of him with a flash of concern flitting across his features.

"You're pathetic Sea-weed head!"

Both Gilbert and Oz froze at the voice that came from directly beside them inside the hallway of the hospital and turned their attentions towards the direction of the voice.

And there stood a girl, long dark brown hair going down to her waist in long thin strands as an angry scowl was pressed firm on her young and rounded pale face, with dark purple coloured eyes glaring intently into Gilbert own golden eyes as she cocked her slender little hip to the side and folded her arms over top of her tiny breasts.

Oz blinked at the out-fit she was wearing, it was cute, if he did say so himself. The girl wore a dark purple skirt that was a tad bit too short for a girl her age—whatever her age was—and a long white—and practically see through—blouse with a dark lace tank top underneath.

She scoffed loudly, the noise unattractive to Oz's ears as she glares passively down at the security guard sitting rather awkwardly on the floor. "You let a little boy tackle you! And now look at you! He could've killed you for how pathetic and weak you are!" The girl shouts, scornfully glaring at Gilbert, who was stunned speechless at the sight of her, as she practically bent over towards his face just to glare eye to eye with him.

All the while, during the little girls heated exchange of harsh words, Oz was still sitting atop of the security guard, turned bodyguard, with obvious confusion and suspicion seen in both his emerald coloured eyes. Who exactly was this girl? Gilbert's niece? Or a patient?

Gilbert finally plastered on a hard scowl and a glare as he bit out three words. "Go. Away. Alice."

The little brown haired girl, named Alice apparently, scowled deeper as she put both her hands on her hips. "No way! I have break! And because of that, I demand that you take me outside so I can blow off some steam at once!" She demanded, flipping her long hair over her shoulder before crossing her arms once again over her chest in defiance as she hurriedly tapped her booted foot on the hospital's tiled floors. "C'mon Sea-weed head! Sun's burning and bright!" She stated, impatiently.

Gilbert growls. "Quit calling me sea-weed head! And who do you think you are!? Telling me what to do? _You're_ the patient and _I'm_ the bodyguard!—I mean security—wait no—Gaaah! Never mind!" Gilbert states in exasperation as he scratches at his black bangs and scatters the dark tresses over his face.

Oz smiles brightly at the sight of a pouting Gilbert and pats his head. "There, there, I think I already got the hospital's layout anyways from this morning!" Oz states happily, trying hard to lift up Gilbert's annoyed spirits by patting down his head as he smiled encouragingly at the security guard.

Who tilts his head up to meet Oz's happily smiling expression, a light blush dusting across his cheeks when he meets Oz's bright green eyes.

"Let's go outside!" Oz states, hurriedly getting up from Gilbert's lap as he all but hops up and down in excitement in front of the fallen security guard.

Alice, the little girl with the long dark brown hair, glares at the blonde-haired randomer, and points a suspicious finger at the teen. "Who are you? Why did you tackle MY slave? And what makes you think you're allowed to follow us?" She implores, taking several steps towards the blonde-haired teenager as she angrily glares into the boy's surprised looking green eyes.

Oz put up both his hands in surrender with a small chuckle escaping his lips. _'What's up with this little girl? Is she ALWAYS mad?' _He thought.

"I'm Oz Vessalius, I'm a new patient here an—"

"—Oh! You're psychotic just like me eh?" She suddenly states, her once glaring and impassive expression, turns into sadistic pleasure as a wide and chilling smirk took over her expression. "The nurse—Sharon, told me aalllll about it yenno? How an 'innocent' and 'nice' looking teenager got admitted into the hospital! Claiming how he was psychotic and suicidal because daddy didn't like him very much!" She announces with a dark gleam of interest in both her dark purple eyes. "So tell me Oz Vessalius…Do you have scars on both your wrists like me?" She takes a step forward and grasps both Oz's wrists in her tiny hands as a dark chuckle escapes her lips.

Oz visibly flinches back at the casually spoken words—about how he was admitted into the hospital, why he was in there, and the mentioning of his father—and took a cautious step back from the happily smiling little girl holding both his wrists hostage.

"She also told 'Alice', to become friends with him, but I don't think _this_ 'Alice' wants her to. You're too difficult to figure out; you're neither here, nor there, where in the world are you?" She asks, tilting her dark brown head to the side as she let forth loud and cackling laughter that echoes down and throughout the hallways.

Oz shakes his head in denial. "Quit it! I—!" He starts to say as he instantly takes another step backwards from the psychotic looking little girl, trying desperately to either get away, or have the girl knock him out just to get it over with.

Only for Gilbert's hand to land protectively onto his shoulder, as he blocked out Alice with his arm other arm.

Oz blinks in surprise at the touch on his shoulder and looks up towards Gilbert's deeply scowling expression, looking completely angry and offended.

"That's enough Alice."

The tone of Gilbert's deep and raspy voice, made a shiver run down Oz's spine.

"Get a hold of yourself. You don't know who you are." Gilbert states in an empty tone of voice, his eyes hard and his body tense. "Wake up Alice!" He suddenly shouts.

Alice takes a step back and falls to her butt on the floor as though she'd been physically pushed back by the security guard's sudden explosive voice, and blinked confusingly at the floor then to Gilbert. "What? What do you want Sea-weed head?" She suddenly snaps, her eyes fixating on Gilbert's golden eyes with a confused flash, before they hardened to a more determined looking glare. "I wanted to go outside just so you know." She states, sticking out her tongue at the black clad security guard as she continued to sit on the floor.

Gilbert sighs heavily in relief as he calmly places a hand onto Oz's shaking shoulder blade and gave it a reassuring squeeze as he smiles down at Oz's obvious confusion.

Oz looks from the girl, then up to Gilbert, blinking blankly. "What…happened to her?" He quietly whispers, gripping Gilbert's long black sleeve with his left hand. Fear was being momentarily replaced by curiosity.

Gilbert shrugs with a heavy sigh. "I'll explain it later…Come on, I'm taking both you guys outside." He announces, giving Oz's shoulder one last light squeeze before he took his hand away to pet Alice on her head as he continued walking down the hallway.

Alice pulls both her hands to cover over the spot where Gilbert's hand had touch her head, with a light blush dusting along her cheeks, she quickly gets up with a small smile stretching across her face before she skips off to his side.

Oz looked from between the little girl named Alice, to Gilbert's retreating figure in confusion. _'Before the little girl looked ready to unleash all kinds of hell on me, but then she looked decisive and…Intimidating…Her voice even seemed to change, even if it did change only a little bit, but still…' _Oz thought, his brow wrinkling in confusion. What exactly happened?

Gilbert turns to look over his shoulder, to finally notice that Oz wasn't follow after them, instead stood further behind them with a look of pure and obvious confusion seen in his bright green eyes. So tilting his head and stopping in the middle of the hallway, Gilbert narrows his eyes down at Oz.

"Is something wrong Oz?" Gilbert asks furrowing his brow in confusion.

Oz finally looks up from the floor to look towards Gilbert, to see concern written on the older man's expression.

He quickly shakes his head and smiles brightly. "Nothing! Just thinking too hard again!" He replies dismissively as he skips over to Gilbert and bumps the older man with his hip. "Let's go then!" He states happily.

"Yeah sea-weed head!" Alice shouts, fist pumping the air over her dark coloured head as she too starts skipping down the hallway with Oz at her side. "Hey! Boy!" She shouts over to Oz inside the hallway.

"My name is Oz, Alice!" Oz replies happily.

"Fine! Hey! Oz! I wanna show you my favourite hiding place when we get outside!" She announces loudly, pointing straight down the hallway in excitement.

Oz grins in delight. "Okay! As long as Gilbert comes with us!"

"He always does!" Alice replies.

Gilbert couldn't help but shake his head with a small smile gracing his lips at the two running teenager's before him. He had to take hurried strides in order to keep up with the energetic duo, but he manages to keep sight of them all throughout and down the many hallways of the hospital until finally they were all outside and in the suns bright and warm rays.

* * *

"So…What's the deal with Alice?" Oz casually asks, while biting on a blade of fresh grass that sat between his lips as he lay on the lush green grass that was shaded perfectly by the help of the tall and old looking oak tree that was raised high over his head, tiny bright green leaves hung on many of the trees twisted and contorted branches.

It was a stunning looking tree.

And one that Gilbert seem to have favoured, because he was the one to suggest the idea of sitting in shade—after almost 15 minutes of running around on the hospital grounds and the inpatient dorm building grounds—there were plenty of trees with shade around it that Gilbert could have sat under for a rest, but Gilbert did a full beeline all the way to this old tree, and sat down so casually and with such precise ease, that seemed to have come so naturally that it seemed as if Gilbert has come to this tree for years.

And the idea of that, Oz couldn't help but smile.

He found it oddly cute that Gilbert liked this tree better than the rest of the trees on the hospital's property.

Gilbert finally looks from the low hanging branches over his head, over to Oz with a casual shrug in his shoulders. "Nothing much to say, except that she practically lived her for almost three years now."

Oz's eyes widen in shock as he rolls over and onto his stomach, so his face was turned directly towards Gilbert. "Wow…For that long? Why?" He asks quietly, turning to look over to Alice, who was sitting inside a bed of flowers, staring up at the sky in an almost dream-like manner with her eyes open widely and wistfully as she glides both her hands over the heads of the flowers surrounding all around her.

"I don't think…I should say, Oz." Gilbert admits, nervously wringing his hands together.

Oz quirks an eyebrow at Gilbert and tilts his head. "Why not?"

"Because…That's important information. Classified you can say. Only patients, their counsellors and their therapists, are allowed to know that kind of information. And it stays between them entirely." Gilbert explains.

Oz wrinkles his nose in displeasure. "But you were ready to share information with me just a little while ago, besides, how did you find out?" He smirked.

"Break." Gilbert deadpanned seriously. "He was worried about her when she first showed up here, and assigned me to be her bodyguard for a full year until we finally got her diagnostics from the other Pandora specialist, and found out the reason for her unpredictable behaviour and attitude." He replies, staring from the happily smiling Alice, then down to the curious looking Oz beside him. "She might be unpredictable, and a little bit stupid." He chuckles a bit at the sentence. "But she's a good person and when she finally decides to share her story with you, you'll understand her a lot more than you do now." Gilbert finishes with a smile. "So have patience when it comes to Alice, she's special." He faintly smiles, an embarrassed blush dusting across his cheeks as he quickly clears his throat and turns his head away. He really didn't mean to voice what his heart was telling him.

Oz couldn't help it, but he chuckles with a small but very honest looking smile faintly tracing across his face. "You sound like her brother instead of her used-to-be bodyguard…" He trails off.

Gilbert shakes his head hurriedly. "Me and her? Hah! It's a platonic relationship, she treats me like her slave instead of her friend, but it's understandable." He mutters. He looks back to Oz and smiles. "So be warned, she'll probably treat you the same too." He announces, poking a finger over at Oz's face.

Oz smiles at this. "Most likely, but I don't mind. She seems like a good person either way."

They both look back to Alice, to see her staring curiously at a grasshopper jumping from leaf to leaf from a flower beside her; they both quietly chuckle a bit at the sight.

Oz rolls over once again and practically sprawls across Gilbert's legs to stare up into the oak's branches hanging low over-head and stares wistfully at the suns beams peeking in through the leaves, he found it quite interesting that a tree that looks as old as this one above him, could produce so many leaves.

Gilbert stares down at the blonde-haired teenager, catching the wistful gleam in the teens emerald coloured eyes and the faint but noticeable small smile on his lips, the teenagers rounded face was touched with little traces of girlish qualities to his features, like the smooth pale skin, untouched with blemishes and imperfections, his bright and soft looking blonde hair, the straight small nose, and the natural pucker of his lips.

Yes, the teen sprawled across his long black clad legs, looked so peaceful and alarming beautiful, for a boy in his teens that is, that Gilbert couldn't imagine Oz getting old—well, as old he was—but if Gilbert ever gets to see Oz in his prime, that is including his beautiful features, Gilbert suspected that when the teenager grew up, he would most likely look like a male model, in comparison to himself.

"Gil?"

Gilbert blinks out of his silly thoughts, and stares with more concentration at the boy on top of his legs, to see that Oz was staring curiously into his eyes. "Hmm?" He hums, but then clears his throat and gestures for Oz to carry on. "I mean, what is it?" He asks.

Oz smiles and rolls over once again, this time his stomach is laying down on top of Gilbert's solid legs and cups his chin in both his palms. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Gilbert's face heats up instantly at the mention of his staring and he looks away quickly. "Wh-what d-do you mean?" He quickly whispers out, trying hard to not look Oz in the eye.

"Like…You're staring at something so unbelievable-ly beautiful. Like a waterfall or the moon." Oz muses, his smile fading to a faint quirk in his lips. "Am I beautiful Gilbert?" He suddenly asks.

Gilbert's blush turns up ten-fold and he hides his face with the crook of his arm. "Wh-why would you ask another man that?" He asks, desperately trying to change the subject now that the attention was on him.

Oz shrugs his shoulders. "Because people often stare at me like I am, I don't see anything perfect or beautiful about me, either than the fact that in the right lighting, I can look like my older sister Ada." He chuckles.

Gilbert looks from the scenery of the hospital grounds, then back to Oz curiously. "You never told me you had an older sister." He replies, thankful that the conversation got turned around.

Oz nods with a small smile. "Yeah I do…She's twenty, kinda looks like me, but a lot more beautiful, and longer hair, but the same colour as mine." He explains, touching his bangs lightly with one hand, before slipping it to his lips to trace delicate lines across the bottom of his lip with his finger. "She has rounder lips than mine, but either than that, we almost look a lot alike." He smiles.

Gilbert shakes his head, forcing his eyes to focus on anything but the faint lip tracing that Oz was now doing. "How old are you anyways?" He asks casually, leaning against the wood of the oak behind him. Gilbert soon scolds himself for acting so out of character, and he felt a little on edge, because he now felt completely _interested_ in what Oz had to say.

Oz suddenly smiles brightly and turns his head over to Gilbert. "I'm 16-years-old. Turning 17 in December 26th, long time huh?" He muses. "I'm…Shorter…" He grumbles. "Than the rest of the 16-year-olds I know. But I'm still growing! So there's hope for me!" He suddenly declares, fist raised high in the air in determination.

Gilbert snorts. "You barely even reach my chest, maybe you stopped growing." He smirks.

Oz pouts. "Are you teasing me? I'll have you know that I grew 2 inches last month!" He argues.

Gilbert only smirks. "Only 2? I was a lot taller than you when I was 16 then."

"Ah shaddap! I'll be taller than you! Just you see!" Oz defends, pinching Gilbert in the leg.

Gilbert flinches with a small yelp as he quickly retracts his legs out from under Oz with a hard glare. "Buzz off." He snaps.

Oz smirks and reaches forward with both his hands out-stretched in Gil's direction. "I'm gonna tickle the life out of you." He threatens, mischievous smile slipping back into place.

Gilbert rolls his eyes passionately. "You don't sound very intimidating when you threaten me with 'tickles'." Gilbert retorts sardonically, smirking small despite himself.

Oz smirks, "How old are _you,_ Gil?" He asks suddenly, rolling back around so now he sat directly beside Gilbert at the tree.

Gilbert ignored the fact that his shoulder now felt a tad bit warmer now that Oz was sitting next to him at the tree, practically touching shoulders with the boy who didn't take any notice that they were basically hip to hip under the shade of the tree.

Gilbert clears his throat awkwardly and mutters something inaudible for the both of them to understand.

Oz wrinkles his brow. "Twei-ah-free-fo? What?" Oz repeats, laughing as he clutches an arm over his stomach.

Gilbert blushes furiously and whips his head in a different direction. "I'm…twenty…" he finally mumbles out.

Oz blinks, his eyes going wide as saucers as he leans his face closer to the blushing security guard beside him. "Only?" He practically gasps in surprise.

Gilbert narrows his eyes at him, blush still evident on his cheeks. "What do you mean _only_?" He growls in suspicion. "I would give anything to be that age again! But…I'm…Actually…Twenty…F-Four…?" He trails off uneasily; he really didn't like talking about himself, especially in the presence of such a person like Oz.

The boy was just one great big mystery to him! And completely unpredictable! He didn't know how Oz would react, whether the boy would tease him right on the spot for acting like a blushing blundering idiot for a 24-year-old, or whether the boy would do something…lewd…again because of his age…He just couldn't predict Oz's reactions!

_'__Or maybe he'll start treating me more like an adult and take me seriously now?' _Gilbert thought with hope. _'Either that or I'm just fooling myself and wishing for something I'll never have.' _He sighed heavily at this thought.

Oz's mouth goes agape in wonder as he stares intently into Gilbert's scowling/pouting expression, for a man—a 24-year-old man at that!—he could act so much like a teenager, and he didn't look at all like a 24-year-old should! Gilbert just had such boy-ish qualities and an air about him that Oz believed that he actually _was_ 20-years-old instead of his original age…For the fact that Gilbert scowls more often than smiles, for the fact that Gilbert seemed content with just himself, how awkward he carries himself whenever Oz so much as did something just a little bit, well, indecent would be an appropriate word, and because Gilbert was just so much of a push over! Oz was able to intimidate—of course he was only playing around at the time—Gilbert without so much as lifting a finger, he was able to make the security guard go along with his antics, and he was able to make Gilbert do pretty much anything that Oz wanted him to do on a whim.

There were not only those things that were stuck in Oz's head, but Gilbert also looked so youthful! There was not a trace of age, or wrinkles, on his face. Gilbert just looked so…So…What was the word…? Without making Gilbert sound feminine?

"Adorable?"

Gilbert sputters and stares at Oz in surprise.

_'__No…That wasn't the word…' _ Oz thought, watching in amusement as Gilbert's facial expressions were changing rapidly in front of his eyes.

First Gilbert's expression was pure surprise, then utter embarrassment, to a small angry scowl, to confusion, then back to embarrassment.

"That wasn't the word I was trying to describe you." Oz defends swiftly. "I…Was trying NOT to make you sound like a woman."

"Gee." Gilbert replies. "That makes me feel a lot better, and here I thought you were gonna mock me for being an old man, but better yet, you made me sound like a woman." Gilbert retorts, in the most sarcastic tone Oz ever heard him use.

So sarcastic, and so ass-hole sounding, that Oz couldn't help but chuckle lightly and smile happily at Gilbert's still blushing face. "You're funny." Oz comments, still chuckling into his hand while the other arm was wrapped around his stomach for support of some kind, as he all but guffaws into the air.

Gilbert merely scowls and folds his arms over his stomach. "Whatever, you get your kicks out of anything idiotic I do and say."

"Oh don't pout, as cute as it looks, I don't think of you as an idiot."

"Quit calling me cute and adorable!" Gilbert hisses.

Oz rolls his eyes. "Look Gilbert, I think of you as a person I can easily get along with, which is saying something because I don't have many friends, and to me, I think of you as a friend, even if we only just met today. I tease you, because you're my friend, I bug the crap outta you, because it pleases me to see you struggling to contain that stoic mask you always have on." At this, Oz grins mischievously and pokes Gilbert's ribs.

Making the older latter flinch and squirm.

"To me, Gilbert Nightray is a good friend. And I can't wait to get to know you better during my stay here. And I…Also…Like to…Thank you, for being my friend…" Oz trails off, looking at anything but Gilbert as he slowly gets up from the spot under the tree.

"Oz, wait—" Gilbert starts to say, hand reaching desperately for the boy's sleeve, until a bright grin was thrown at him from over Oz's small shoulder.

"—Gilbert is a great friend, even if I only just met him today. I hope we can continue to get along during my stay here…What do you say? Bodyguard?" Oz states, smiling down at the bewildered looking Gilbert, lacing his hands behind his back, he rocks back and forth on the heels of his shoes.

Gilbert blinks at the soft and happy expression on Oz's face, and couldn't help but offer a small smile back in response. "I say…That I would like to be your friend," he announces with a small shy smile. "A-and I hope…I'm the perfect bodyguard…" Gilbert states quietly as he quickly looks down to hide his blush.

_'__Get a-hold of yourself Nightray! He's 16-years-old! You're much older than him!' _Gilbert screams inside his head, wanting desperately to get his composure back and school his expression. But with the blonde-haired teenager looking so intently at him with a bright smile, he just couldn't school his embarrassed expression.

Oz merely chuckles and pats Gilbert on his dark coloured head, the soft dark brown waves of Gilbert's unruly hair, felt oddly nice when he smoothed it back and curled the strands of wavy hair between his fingers.

_'__He's 24-years-old…Get that in your head Oz. From now on, treat him merely as a friend. Nothing more.' _Oz notes inside his head, suddenly pulling his hand back from the mop of hair when he noticed that Gil's eyes were closed in what looked like contentment and comfortable pleasure.

He suddenly slaps Gilbert behind the back—making sure he slapped extra hard just in case—and pulled Gilbert up by the sleeve of his long black trench coat.

"Now, let's go back inside! You still gotta show me around yes?" Oz states suddenly enthusiastic as he all but dragged Gilbert out of the spot from the tree and dragged him all the way to Alice, who was still inside the little enclosure of flower beds.

"Did you have to slap me?" Gilbert states grumpily.

Oz merely laughs and continues to drag the tall security guard by the arm, before he quickly let's go with a displeased scowl, and started jogging up ahead of him.

_'__No more contact! He'll assume something…!' _Oz notes inside his head, a light and very faint blush dances across his face. _'Why did my bodyguard have to be him? Why does Gilbert have to be older than me? Why does Gilbert have to be…So damn good looking? Why me?'_

_'__Why me? The boy is clearly younger than I am! And yet he's more…Better, than I'll ever be! Why does he have more charisma and…A certain…Attraction about him that I don'thave? Why does he have to be so young? I'm such a pervert! Why me?'_ Thought the dark haired security guard as he hid his furious blush with his arm, averting his eyes from the happily smiling Oz.

* * *

_Thanks so much for the support and amazing reviews! Hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed typing it._


	7. Knowing

_The name spoke to me...So I changed it._

* * *

Chapter 7: Knowing.

_-Oz and Gilbert decide to keep their distance away from each other for the time being, things become awkward and uneasy between the two because of it. A certain blonde-haired man catches Oz's interest. And just what is it about Oz that Gilbert cannot understand?-_

August 13th, 2013.

Tuesday.

It's has been a week and one day since Oz has arrived at the Pandora Hearts Hospital's "Out-Reach Program", and Oz couldn't have felt more uneasy and awkward because of all the time he spent inside the hospital, and the inpatient dorm building.

For one, Oz decided that he and Gilbert are on very different terms with one another—Oz's 'term' being more, touchy feely, lip smacking, and hand searching. While Gilbert's 'term' is probably along the lines of—and Oz is only taking a wild guess at this but—a sibling/bodyguard relationship, strictly platonic and serious.

And Oz has decided that because of those two very different things that they probably both feel about one another, is that he would not touch, or have any contact with the security guard—turned bodyguard—because that would prove to be more of a nuisance if Oz happened to develop…Unwanted and…Unnecessary, feelings towards his own bodyguard.

So for the last week and one day, Oz has kept to himself, said very little to Gilbert—only when it was absolutely necessary and kept his hands—as hard and vexing as it was—to himself. But that doesn't mean that Oz was ignoring Gilbert completely, hell no, he would constantly bug the crap outta the older male, just to get some form of conversation between him and Gil, he would always give Gilbert one of his best smiles, be polite as possible, but still be a nuisance at the same time, they would constantly argue over trivial things, just because it proved as some sick form of entertainment to the blonde-haired teenager, and he would always trick or pull pranks on Gilbert on daily basis.

But at the same time, keep things to a minimum, as hard as that was, because he didn't want to give Gilbert the wrong impression of himself, meaning; Oz doesn't want anything more from Gilbert than just being his friend, and a patient that needed being looked after or 'guarded'.

So what has Oz decided to do with this new-found platonic relationship between him and Gilbert? Easy…

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing. Oz is pretending that he is nothing more than a friend to Gilbert—because that part was actually very true and less difficult to portray—and that he views Gilbert as nothing more than a bodyguard and a friend.

And because of that, Oz is keeping his little playful quips, his hands, his sly expressions, smiles, his irksome and exasperating attitude, his keen and sadistic sense of humor, to himself. As a way to not confuse the security guard further and have him think that Oz wanted something completely different between their platonic relationship.

But at the same time it would be a lot of fun for Oz, if he _did_ start to give Gilbert the wrong—or possibly right?—impression.

Oz will give Gilbert a few playful little jabs here, tiny pointless little arguments there, a few hand gestures, a couple sly glances, a touch of a hand, and a press of his mouth and—

"NO!" Oz suddenly shouts, beet red and nervous looking as he all but launches himself out of his desk and to the wall.

Once Oz looks up from the floor boards of the recreational Room—for the group gathering of Expressive Therapy—he is met with several nervous glances from some of the patient's around him inside the rec room, and is also met with side-long and boring stares from the rest, as though Oz's outburst was an everyday occurrence to them.

Which it probably was. As sad as that sounds.

Oz nervously smiles, straightens up his hunched over and awkward standing position at the spot beside the wall and behind his desk, and scratches nervously at his head. "I-I'm sorry about that…Speaking my mind again…But this time…Very loudly…" Oz gives a sad sigh of derision and puts up both his hands in surrender. "Sorry, it won't happen again, this time I swear." He declares, giving Sharon a beaming grin as he marks an "X" over his chest.

Before he makes his way back to his desk and sits down with a held in groan.

_'__No more thinking about that security guard…' _Oz thought, wrinkling his nose in offence. _'Gilbert will be the death of me…'_

Flicking his emerald eyes from the front of his desk, he shoots them around the patients huddled up around the room, some of them were silently talking to themselves, others were chattering to one another in harsh whispers, and most of them, were sitting alone, not paying attention to other patients, and keeping to themselves.

And that is exactly what Oz has been doing ever since he got acquainted with the hospital's schedule, he's been keeping to himself inside each of his therapy sessions, group therapy sessions, expressive therapy, and other tasks that are written in Sharon's hand writing on the home-made schedule he received from the giggly strawberry blonde nurse herself.

He made friends with Gilbert, but at the moment, the security guard was standing outside the doorway of the rec room, keeping an eye on the hospital's patients and his surroundings, while he sneakily peeked in through the window on the other side of the door, to check up on Oz every once in a while, then go back to what he was doing before-hand.

Oz also made friends with the short stature, dark haired girl named Alice, and also learnt that her last name is Baskerville. Oz would check up on Alice, so to speak, by peering curiously over to her from his own area, and watch her body movements, facial expressions, and the way she spoke to others, whenever he didn't get a chance to talk with Alice alone and get to know her.

But Oz decided that getting to know Alice better would have to wait.

There were more important things happening around him, not Gilbert, not Alice, and certainly not making friends, and definitely NOT giving any trace of weakness he saw inside himself, away to the other people watching—the "other people", being the therapists, counsellors, doctors, and the nurses.

There were more important things happening around him…Important things like…

Oz peeks over to the long blonde-haired man sitting two seats down across from him to his right, caught and concentrated on the fluid and graceful movements of the obviously older male.

How was it obvious that the blonde-haired man is older than him?

Simple, the man was taller than him, almost as tall as Gilbert—but the blonde-haired man was probably just a mere inch or two shorter than the dark haired security guard—the man had such youthful and handsome qualities—that were unlike any others, especially Oz himself—to his face structure, which was remarkably beautiful, his body looked well-toned and lithe—compared to his own small limbs and muscle prominence—and the man's legs…Oz could write a beautiful poem about those legs—that could go on for days…In his opinion—and the man was just so obviously older than Oz himself, that the blonde-haired teenager couldn't help but feel an attraction to the blonde-haired stranger because of it.

Well technically, the man wasn't a stranger, Oz knew his name.

Which was Vincent.

But he hardly knew anything about him, either than the fact that his looks are alarmingly handsome, the man has nice legs, and strange, unique, and oddly beautiful eye colours—which took Oz by surprise at first, for the mere fact that one of Vincent's eyes was a beautiful golden colour, while the other eye, his right eye, was the colour of a deep red wine—and that the man's name was Vincent.

_'__I don't even know his last name…And I don't even know how his voice sounds…Why do I want to throw myself at him…?' _Oz thought, groaning lightly inside the quite room as he ducks his head and tucks his face within the crook of his arm as he rests his head on his desk. _'Is it because his face reminds me of someone? Maybe it's his name? Or maybe…it's just because of his looks?' _Oz thought, peering back over to the blonde-haired man again, and resisted the urge to shiver when his eyes happen to land on the bare skin of Vincent's hip.

When Vincent raised both his arms and hands into the air above his golden coloured head and gave a light yawn, which caused his well fitted black dress shirt to ride slightly up with the languid and graceful movement, the pale skin of his hip was peeking out from under the shirt.

Oz groans again inside his head. _'What is wrong with me…? Why Vincent?' _Oz thought, letting his eyes linger longer on the pale skinned man.

Who happens to turn his head in Oz's direction at that exact moment.

Their eyes met, emerald eyes widening, gold and red eyes widen slightly, before they narrow when the man happens to beam Oz a friendly—and very handsome looking—smile.

Which causes Oz to stare hopelessly lost at the man's pale face. _'Holy crap! He's looking at me! He also caught me staring! How embarrassing…!' _ Oz screams inside his head.

Finally the inner turmoil settled inside Oz's stomach once the man give him one last smile, before Vincent finally turns his attention away from him.

And Oz relaxes into his desk and gives a quiet and barely audible sigh.

_'__He's so awesome…'_ Oz thought breathlessly, small smile gracing his lips.

* * *

3:00 P.M

It was now—thankfully—Journal time, that meant that Oz was free to either head back to his room at the inpatient dorm building, or wander to the therapy grounds and sit inside the garden.

Oz chose the latter; he'd rather sit outside in the cool breeze and underneath the shade of the Gilbert's favourite oak tree and write freely inside his journal, then head back to his room where he can't see the sun and be alone in his thoughts.

Which were proving to be quite difficult to contain, what with Vincent clouding his thoughts, and a certain dark haired security guard popping up inside his head at the most dreadful of times.

_'__I should sit under the shade and cool off.'_ Oz thought, wrinkling his nose in displeasure at realizing that all he could think about are two fully grown men.

So with a sigh, he grabs his journal that was sitting beside him inside the Recreational room and gets up from within the white leather couch.

"I'm going outside Sharon!" Oz announces, smiling over to the strawberry blonde nurse, who sat with a couple other patients on the other side of the air hockey table.

Sharon looks up from the book she was reading aloud to the patients sitting around her and up to Oz, and with a smile, she nods her head. "Enjoy your time outside Oz, remember, Yoga starts at exactly 3:30, so be back in time." She replies with a warning gleam inside her eyes.

Oz shivers at the knowing stare, and quickly nods his head in affirmation that he won't miss as he quickly makes a dash for the door, just as he bursts open through the door, he's met with a loud yelp of surprise and a gasping Gil on the other side of the door.

Oz peers down curiously at the gasping form of Gilbert on the floor and kneels down in front of him. "What happened?" He asks, smirking when Gilbert flashes his golden eyes up to him in a glare and a scowl pressed across his face.

"What do you mean 'what happened?' you scared the shit outta me!" The security guard snaps as he gets up from the floor.

Oz takes a step back from the angry security guard and shrugs carelessly. "You shouldn't be standing so close to doorways then Gilbert." Oz replies humorlessly, then he thumbs behind himself. "Sharon said I can go outside to write in my journal."

Gilbert growls, still not wanting to let the door thing go, but shrugs and begins to head into the direction of the exit. "Fine. But this time Oz, can you actually _write_ in your journal? And not make silly doodles?" Gilbert asks with a sigh.

Oz smiles brightly and winks over to Gilbert, who quickly looks away. "I'll try, but don't be snooping over my shoulder like you did last time." Oz scolds. "You're invading someone else's privacy." Oz teases, pushing Gilbert lightly with his hand as he starts walking ahead of the tall dark haired man.

Gilbert merely rolls his eyes. "Whatever." He replies sardonically. Then he flicks his golden eyes into the direction of the blonde-haired teenager, and caught the swaying of the teen's hips every time he took a hurried step towards the exit.

The security guard shakes his head at himself and continues down the long stretch of hallway with a sigh escaping his lips. _'Control yourself; this isn't how you would normally look at teenager's. Oz is just…A weird attractive person. It'll settle and pass.' _Gilbert notes. Not knowing whether he was trying to convince himself, or others.

Finally looking up from the hallways marbled stone floors, he blinks and notices that Oz was nowhere to be seen in front of him.

"Oz?" Calls Gilbert unsurely, making sure to take small and careful steps as he peeks his head around the corner of the hallway, having a suspicion that the teenager was merely waiting around the corner just so he can trip him—like Oz has done to him on numerous occasions—but as he peeks, he sees not a head of golden hair in sight.

Wrinkling his brow in confusion he looks both ways inside the hallway, Oz wasn't around. Now suddenly filled with the feeling of dread, and concern, he hurriedly makes his way over to the other side of the hallway and takes a fast right turn to where he think Oz might've been heading to.

_'__The exit is nowhere near here…I wonder if he got lost or…Ran somewhere…?' _Gilbert thought, taking long legged strides down the hallway. _'He is NOT running away!' _Gilbert roars inside his head. _'Right…?' _

"Giiiiiiil!"

He freezes instantly at the voice and sighs heavily as relief washes over him. Turning his head over his shoulder, he catches Oz sitting in one of the many random love-seats situated inside the hospital, and points an accusing finger at Oz's happily smiling face.

"Don't take off like that." Gilbert orders, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at Oz.

Who only tilts his head with a smirk. "And who said I took off? I noticed that you were lagging along behind me, and thought I'll just wait here for you to catch up." Oz replies, kicking his legs up on the brown coloured love-seat cushions, and leans his back on the arm-rest of the couch as he drags his journal from his hand, to his lap. "I like it here, I think I'll write my journal here." Oz announces, patting the love-seat with his hand, before he opens up his journal and flicks his pen open.

Gilbert sighs and leans casually against the corner of the wall; Oz made himself comfortable on the brown leather love-seat and took up all the room to the couch. He didn't mind standing, because with the way Oz was sitting, in a curled up position with his knees drawn up nearly halfway to his chest, and with the suns beaming rays streaming in through the bar-less window, it made the scene before him look completely comfortable, natural, and picture worthy.

Picture worthy, because Gilbert really likes photography and was an amateur photographer, he only wished he brought his camera along with him to work like he was going to do this morning.

"Did you want to sit Gilbert?"

Gilbert looks from the window, down to Oz, to see him peering up at him in curiosity.

"'Cos it looks like you wanna, when you keep staring at the couch." Oz notes aloud as he begins to move his legs away from his chest, only to stop when Gilbert suddenly shakes his head.

"No thanks, I'm good with standing." Gilbert replies, crossing his arms over his chest as he tilts his head down and leans closer into the wall.

Oz merely nods his head and goes back to writing inside his journal.

Gilbert purses his lip in displeasure. _'Why didn't I just sit down with him? My legs are kinda sore…But then we would be crowded and cramped inside the small love-seat…Practically hip to hip…' _Gilbert tightly shuts both his eyes and wills the delightful image out of his head. _'It's better if I stand.'_

"What are you doing in the corner Gilbert?"

At the sound of a voice coming from directly beside them, Oz and Gilbert both turn their heads into the direction.

And Oz's eyes felt like they were bugging out right from his skull at the sight of the blonde-haired man, Vincent, who stood with a casual hand pushed into his pocket of his black fitted dress pants while the other hand pushed aside a stray long length of blonde-hair from the side of his pale featured face.

Vincent smiles at his elder brother, Gilbert, then blinks at the bright blonde-haired teenager sitting inside the love-seat in front of his brother. At a first glance, it looked as though his brother was about to do unspeakable acts with this…Teen, in the middle of the hallway. But when he peered closer at the teenage boy, it seemed like Gilbert was merely keeping an eye on him while he wrote inside his journal.

Smiling again at the blonde-haired teenager, he removes his hand from the tight confines of his pocket—damn these tight pants to hell for constricting his waist—and held his hand out to the smaller boy. "Hello, my name is Vincent, your Oz I assume?" Vincent greets, hand still out-stretched towards the gawking teenager. He instantly recognized the boy, merely because he caught him staring directly him while in Expressive Therapy.

Oz mentally slaps himself for letting Vincent hold out his hand longer than necessary, as he quickly shuts his journal with a snap and sits upright in the love-seat to shake the older man's hand with a shaky nervous smile stretched widely across his face.

"H-hello—"Damn his shaky voice to hell. "—it's a pleasure to meet you Vincent, and yes, my name is Oz." He states uneasily, before he clears his throat and plasters on a sly mask of mischievousness. "Oz Vessalius…" He practically purrs, finally releasing his hold on Vincent's hand. "And I take it you know Gilbert already." He states with a smirk directed to Gilbert.

Who only shakes his head and looks away.

"That's because, he's my older brother Oz." Vincent states, smiling brightly.

Oz's mouth goes agape in shock as he quickly flicks his eyes to and fro from between each man inside the hallway in front of him. _'Brothers?' _Oz screams inside his head in refusal. He looks to Gilbert's face, memorizing each handsome detail as he quickly directs his attention to Vincent, who was standing in front of him, and yes, he now saw the similarities in their expressions and facial structures.

Vincent's eyes had the same shape as Gilbert's if not a little more narrowed in size, Gilbert's skin was a little bit more on the tanned side, but that could be because Gilbert spent his days out in the sun patrolling the grounds, while Vincent on the other hand, had to stay in-doors because he was a fellow patient at the Pandora Hearts Hospital as well, Vincent had the same golden colour to his left eye like Gilbert's own bright gold eyes, but from facial structures, they still looked like brother's, but Vincent's facial structure was more on the feminine side, while Gilbert, was more on the manly and rugged side. Vincent had long golden coloured hair that looked straight as far as Oz could tell, while Gilbert had dark brown wavy hair that stuck up oddly in strands around his face and head. Vincent had nice long legs, Gilbert…Had the same legs, but a bit more on the toned side, while Vincent's was lithe in comparison.

_'__They ARE brothers…Damn…_' Oz thought. _'Okay…Now I know why I kept staring at Vincent…Because he looked familiar…Gilbert's YOUNGER brother?' _

"Then how old are you?" Oz suddenly gasps, eyes further widening.

Vincent merely chuckles behind his hand and smiles down at Oz. "I'm 23-years-old."

"Only?" Oz presses.

"Why do you always say 'only?'" Gilbert suddenly hisses.

Oz ignores Gilbert's out-burst and gestures for Vincent to take a seat beside him. "Would you like to sit down? I saw you yawning today in class…Looked like you were pretty bushed." Oz suggests, moving closer to the arm rest beside him as a way to make room for Vincent.

Who smiles at the suggestion and nods his head. "I am kind of…Tired…" He replies, holding a hand up to his mouth as he yawns in between his sentence. He waits for Oz to squeeze over to the other side of the couch, before he turns around and takes a seat. "This couch is surprisingly…" He trails off.

"Comfortable?" Oz muses, smiling small as he sets his journal down on the floor in front of his feet.

Vincent nods. "Yes, it looks like it's made of cheap materials, but its soft." He states, running his delicate hand across the cushion of the love-seat that sat in between him and Oz.

Oz smiles. "So you're a patient here too?" Oz asks casually, leaning more comfortably against the arm rest of the couch. "I don't want to pry, so I won't ask you any…unnecessary questions. But how long have you been a patient here?" He asks lightly, almost shyly, because he didn't want to seem too interested or nosy.

Vincent shrugs a shoulder.

Making the movement seem so relaxed and graceful to Oz's deep gaze.

"I've been here for about a year now." Vincent replies. "And you?"

"Only a week and one day." Oz replies. "So how long did it take to get used to the schedule?" Oz asks.

Vincent turns his head to look over his shoulder at Oz and props his left arm on the arm rest as he cradles his chin in the center of his palm. "Two days." He declares with a smile.

Oz shakes his head. "I don't believe that, because _I'm_ still not used to getting up so darn early, and all the hallways…" Oz shakes his head again at the thought. "Too much twists and turns that I get easily lost." He admits with a small chuckle.

Vincent smiles and makes a sweeping gesture with his hand. "Well if you walk around more, and if you have an excellent chauffeur, so to speak," He shrugs at his choice of words. "You can have a better layout of the hospital grounds." He states with a smile. "I would gladly give you a tour of the hospital grounds and the Activity Center if you like."

Oz's eyes light up with glee. "Really? I would like that!" Oz states with a bright smile.

Gilbert looks on at the delightful scene in front of him with an inkling, sick sort of emotion licking its way up his spine and into his head; Vincent gestures animatedly around him as Oz takes in every word and detail with a bright smile and occasional head nod or two at what Vincent is speaking about. Vincent and Oz are practically squeezing together on the small love-seat as Oz shows him something written on a piece of paper—that Oz took out from within his back pocket—and he watches how Vincent points out mistakes with a shake of his head as he smiles and tells Oz something else of great importance, well it sure seems like it's of great importance when Oz's eyes goes wide in what looks like fear as he quickly scribbles something down onto the piece of paper with a small "thank you" and a smile, and all the while, during the casual exchange of words, smiles, and hand gestures, Gilbert couldn't feel more than…Left out.

Then Gilbert felt his hackles rising when he saw Vincent give Oz "the stare", and Oz responds to that "look" with a shy smile and—is that a blush on his face?

"Alright Vincent!" Gilbert suddenly snaps.

Causing the hallway, and the snuggling duo sharing the love-seat, to go deathly quiet.

Oz blinks at Gilbert's sudden out-burst at his brother and wrinkles his brow in confusion.

Vincent quickly flashes his mixed-matched eyes over to his elder brother, and felt the blood drain from his face when he's met with glaring golden eyes, but then a thought occurred to him, something so obviously obvious. _'Gilbert likes this boy…' _Thought Vincent, suddenly, and with a very knowing smile, Vincent gets up from the love-seat; all the while Vincent merely laughs Gilbert's out-burst away.

"I think my brother is trying to tell me to leave you be, so you can continue to write in your journal." He states, looking back to Gilbert with a nod of his head. "I'll leave him be Gil, but after Oz's Yoga class, I'm going to be taking him away from you, for a while."

"What?" Gilbert and Oz ask in unison.

Vincent smiles over to Oz. "Didn't you want me to give you a tour of the hospital and the Activity center?" He asks with a grin.

Oz beams him a smile as he quickly nods his head. "Oh! I thought you meant something else…Heh heh…" Oz chuckles nervously. "But yes! I can't wait for a proper tour Vincent."

Vincent nods his head and sweeps an arm over his stomach as he lightly bows in front of Oz's bewildered and surprised expression. "Then I will see you right after Yoga, Oz." He states with a smile as he straightens up, and gives Oz one last smile, before he turns around and heads towards his brother.

Who was standing behind them silently, with a look of pure and unadulterated envy seeping out from his transfixed and glaring golden eyes during the fast exchange of farewell's coming from him and Oz. Vincent passes Gilbert by, but before he leaves completely out of sight, he smiles darkly when a mischievous and sly little idea occurs to him.

Vincent turns around, gives Gilbert a smile, before he pulls his gaze to Oz, who was still sitting on the couch and staring up at him with amazement easily detectable in those predictable and trustworthy eyes, as he gives the teenage boy a wink and a sliver of a smirk.

"See you later…" The blonde-haired man purrs as he peers his eyes curiously over to Gilbert, who gives him another heated glare, Vincent grins in delight and rounds the corner and out of sight from the two with a dark chuckle slipping passed his lips.

_'__How much do you trust him already Gil?' _thought Vincent, eyes narrowing at the sudden dreadful thought, at first it was all fun in games, because he absolutely adored the look of pure envy and jealously inside Gilbert's expression, but then there was also a reason of "Why" Gilbert would be that jealous, it was obvious that Gilbert liked the teenager, but why? How? And since when exactly? Did he honestly—and already—been replaced by that brat?

_'__He'll break your trust sooner or later brother, as did the many other people you have cared about before…' _Vincent balls his hands into fists at the memory of the many other people who have broken, and betrayed Gilbert's kind trust.

He schools his angered expression with a calm stoic mask as he gives the passing by nurses, a small smile and a wave, but just as he turns another sharp corner, the smile all but disappears as he drags a hand to his mouth and growls lowly inside his palm. Gilbert's affections, his attention, and his devotion, was no longer pointed to him, instead, Vincent felt as though he's been replaced entirely by Oz.

He shakes his head at such a thought, but it was true wasn't it? Gilbert hadn't spoken two words about that boy, and then suddenly it's already been decided that Gilbert will now devote his entire trust on the boy that Vincent himself have barely even spoken a word to?

_'__How could Gil…Just replace me like nothing? Haven't I been the one who stood beside him? Wasn't I the one who rebuilt my older brother when he was at his low? Who is this brat?' _Vincent thought, and suddenly, he got an idea. He would make Oz trust him, he would make Oz tell him all of his dirtiest secrets, and HE will be the one to tell Gilbert all about the lies and secrets that the boy has been keeping from him. Now the only thing he needed to do, was get closer to Oz. Much closer.

He smiles maliciously as he takes a seat on the red couch further in the back of the library inside of the hospital, a couch that has been pulled all the way to the corner of the wall beside a window. He drags both his hands up to his face and pulls one leg close to his chest as he leans on the windowsill beside him. _'I will make him trust me, I'll make him confide in ME, I'll sweet talk him, tell him everything he always wanted to hear, and then break him, and make Gilbert realize that Oz is nothing more than easy trash.' _His plan has been made, now all that's left he needed to do, was take action.

Back in the corner of the hospital; with Oz sitting completely immobile inside the loveseat, with a hand raised to his smiling lips, Gilbert continues to stand with his head turned away from Oz completely, with a look of discomfort and a melancholic expression hidden away from the blonde-haired teenager.

And when Gilbert suddenly hears a wistful sigh and a giggle of happiness coming from Oz, he couldn't help but close his eyes with a pained look.

_'__He's already under his spell…' _Gilbert thought, resisting the urge to just turn tail and run for the comfort of his favourite tree.

"He really is your younger brother, isn't he Gil?" Came Oz's wistful sounding question.

Gilbert furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he turns around and faces Oz once again, with a look of suspicion seen in both his eyes. "What does that mean?" He asks suspiciously.

Oz gives him a bright smile and a casual shrug of his shoulder as he leans his back onto the back-rest of the loveseat and tilts his head up towards the warm rays of the sun that is streaming in through the window up above his blonde coloured head. "He has more confidence than you…"

At that sudden honest sounding confession from Oz, Gilbert couldn't help but feel his anxiety rise as his thoughts were suddenly grasped in fear and awareness. He really was a bumbling idiot compared to his younger brother. He knew Oz would realize this and turn away from him to chase after his much mature and calmer younger brother. And at that sudden thought and idea, it frightened and angered him.

"But you two share the same handsome looks."

Gilbert felt the blood drain from his face, only for it to rise ten-fold when he flashes his surprised looking eyes back to Oz, who only smiles knowingly at him with a small tilt of his head.

"Gilbert may be a little more…Awkward, self-conscious, secluded, clumsy, and loud."

"Hey!" Gilbert tries to object.

Only for the security guard to be silenced by Oz raising his right hand to his slyly smirking lips as Oz crosses his legs to sit Indian style inside the love-seat as he winks at the—once again—blushing bodyguard.

"But Gilbert is my best friend," Oz announces with complete honesty as he smiles at the obvious stunned and surprised expression of Gilbert's as he chuckles lightly into his hand. "And because Gil just knows how to make me laugh and smile…and mean it too."

Gilbert felt his heart warm at that confession, and unwittingly, at the sudden warmth that erupts inside his chest, he raises his left hand and holds it over his heart, where he feels it thump erratically underneath his palm as his eyes stare helplessly lost at the smiling youth before him.

"I'm…Your, b-best friend?" Gilbert repeats nervously.

Oz pouts and folds his arms over his chest. "I just said that, didn't I?" He says stubbornly, before he smirks. "And why do you sound so nervous? Scared to be my best friend?"

"No!" Gilbert objects, raising his voice, before he sighs heavily and walks over to Oz.

Who goes uncharacteristically nervous as his entire body goes rigged once he notices Gilbert coming towards him to the couch, with an obvious serious intent gleaming inside his blazing golden eyes.

"G-Gil—" Oz gasps in unease.

Only for him to be rendered speechless when all Gilbert did, was bend down to one knee to kneel in front of him, picks up his fallen Journal book, and holds it out towards Oz with a small smile and a whispered.

"Thank you."

As he gently puts the book down onto Oz's bent knee and straightens up his bent over posture to check his silver wrist watch hidden under the black sleeve of his trench coat.

"It's already 4 o'clock Oz, in about 30 minutes it'll be dinner time." The security guard announces to the still stunned looking Oz. "So better get a move on and write in your journal before then." Gilbert reprimands, eyes and voice once again serious as he gives Oz an accusatory finger point, before he goes back to his spot at the wall of the little enclosed and comfortable corner of the hospital.

Oz looks from Gilbert, to the journal with confusion, before he shakes his head and sighs heavily. "But I don't wannaaaaaaa…!" He whines, kicking his feet in the air.

* * *

_Oh my...Bad boy Oz...IMPURE! IMPURE! Anyways..._

_Thanks for the support! leave a comment and shit! Tah~_


	8. Fool

_Hello! I drank this weekend...Went golfing (My idea of golfing is driving around in those golf carts and drinking) I also hit up a couple bars...And surprisingly, I'm not hungover! And that's good, cuz...I'm at work right now..._

* * *

Chapter 8: Fool.

_-Time has surprisingly, gone by and fast during Oz's stay inside the Pandora Heart's Hospital. He made two more friends, one being Vincent and the other being Alice…But just who is this rowdy teenager? And why does he hate Oz so?-_

September 4th, 2013.

Wednesday.

It has been exactly 1 month since Oz was admitted into the hospital, and now came the day that he was to be "interviewed" by Break, and the rest of the Pandora Heart's Specialists.

Why was he being interviewed?

Because today was the day that he is finally going to find out whether or not he's crazy. In other words, what type of analysis the doctors and other specialists have made during his stay, what his diagnostic is while he was under surveillance and just what it was that is going on in his teenage, hormonal, adolescent mind.

He hasn't had a bout of hysteria or had a panic attack since the first day he got admitted into the hospital, that was a good sign…But Oz knew that there is something else behind the interview.

"Maybe I'm not crazy." Oz states bluntly. "Maybe it's just my teenage hormones driving me crazy." He announces with a smirk.

"Pfft!" Gilbert sputters, before he all but coughs out a lung trying to get his breath back from inhaling his coffee.

Oz rolls his eyes at the predictable reaction from Gilbert. "You're such a prude Gil, can't even talk about hormones and sex with someone you know." He states, pouting. "You're best friend might I add."

Gilbert's face goes beet red at that—surprisingly dead-ON—exclamation. "W-well! Who in their right mind would casually talk about sex and hormones with anyone? Personal things like those should be kept to themselves. A secret." Gilbert declares, sighing heavily when he only gets laughed at by Oz.

"Oh come ON Gil!" Oz exclaims, pointing a finger right at Gilbert's stern expression. "You can NOT just keep those things a secret! What if you need advice? What if you just need a boost in your spirits?" Oz asks, smirking slyly over to Gilbert.

Who only shakes his head with a light blush. "No one should talk to others about…Their…Sex lives…" Gilbert stammers out nervously, wondering whether or not he should be talking to Oz about this indecent subject longer. Especially since Oz was much younger than he was.

"But people should talk to other people about their problems! Because they just can't handle it alone sometimes! People need to talk about personal things like those, every once in a while, or they'll go insane with unanswered questions." Oz announces, smiling broadly when he manages to make Gilbert give him a suspicious look with a raised eyebrow.

Clearly, what Gilbert was saying with his eyes were the words, "and how exactly can you possibly know all that?"

"So when it comes to sexual frustrations and sexy encounters, people should always state what is on their minds and what they think is a problem! It's only for the good of their sex lives!" Oz grins. "Don't you think so Gil?" Oz presses slyly.

Just as Gilbert was about to furiously shake his head and deny the question entirely, a bystander finally made himself known.

"I couldn't have said it better myself Oz Vessalius."

Both Oz and Gilbert turn their heads in the direction of Break's voice and stop in the middle of the hallway.

Break stood behind them with a knowing smile stretched widely across his face, before he points to Oz with a smirk. "But what you left out in that surprisingly analytical—not to mention very _blunt_—statement was: 'And because Gilbert is such a prude, he wouldn't know heads or tails in the way of sex, so why should _he_ keep his sex problems a secret?'" Break grins lecherously over to the blushing and scowling Gil.

"Hi Break!" Oz greets happily, smiling over to Break as he laces his hands behind his back. "So…Are you ready to 'interview' me for my monthly hospital assessment?" He asks casually.

Break nods his white head over to Oz as he digs in the pocket of his white smock and pulls out a candy wrapped in purple thin plastic paper and tosses it over to Gilbert. "I'm merely teasing you Gilbert, you don't need to get all embarrassed and portray a blushing virgin." Break teases ruthlessly. "Although, I must admit, you portray a blushing virgin precisely." Break remarks with surprise. "Are you _in fact_ blushing, because you may possibly _be_ a virgin Gilbert?" Break asks casually, his deep red eye narrowing in concentration.

Oz hides a teasing smile behind a mask of attentiveness and cups his chin in his hand. "His body language does say that he is Break, and the obvious blush on his face too. I would clearly think so." Oz replies, a concerned look written on his face. "How old did you say you were again? 30?"

"24!" Gilbert snaps. "And it's none of your guys' business! So shut it!" Gilbert growls, blush still stained on his cheeks as he quickly turns his head away and storms down the hallway. Leaving behind a laughing and teasing duo.

* * *

"So how did your interview go with the specialists?" Gilbert asks the blonde-haired teen at his side.

Oz shrugs and laces his hands behind his head as they continue down the hallway of the hospital. "They all went alright; they think I should continue to stay here though. So I guess they found a problem with me and with the way I'm interacting with the other patients." Another shrug and a carefree smile.

Gilbert raises an eyebrow. "And how exactly _are you_ interacting with the other patients?"

Oz sighs. "I keep my distance from them."

"Why? You know they'll only question you about it." Gilbert states.

"I know that…It's just that, I don't really feel like I should get to know everyone here. If I continue to stay by myself, and work things out on my own, I'll get better faster, it's none of the other patients business to know what exactly is wrong with me." Oz states with complete honesty in his tone of voice as they stop in the middle of the hallway facing two large wooden doors.

Gilbert shakes his head. "I don't think that that's a good reason to avoid others Oz, maybe everyone here wants to help you."

"But I don't need their help." Oz argues. "It's my problem to deal with, not yours and definitely not anyone else's. I don't need anyone's help." Oz states stubbornly, eyes hard and face serious.

Gilbert felt displeased at that little statement. Wasn't he Oz's best friend? So why can't Oz confide in his problems and talk about them with him? He wasn't useless, or stupid, he only wanted to help.

"You know Oz…" Gilbert trails off, unsure as he wrings his hands together nervously. "If you want to talk about…Your problems or anything…I can—"

"—No Gil." Oz cuts Gilbert off in his sentence, facing Gilbert with a stern expression and glaring emerald eyes. "I don't want you to see me as a burden. I don't want you to worry about the problems _I_ have, they are _mine_ to deal with and shoulder _myself_." Oz exclaims, voice rising in volume. "I don't need your help…!"

Gilbert visibly flinches back at the harsh tone of voice from Oz, and before he could say anything else, the small teenager abruptly turns around and opens one of the wooden doors with vigor.

"I'm going to read…Walk around, or check up on the other patients." Oz states, voice hard as he keeps his back turned from his bodyguard. "I'll see you later." He states, a little more calmly over his shoulder, still not meeting Gilbert's golden eyes.

Gilbert nods as he quickly ducks his head, says nothing, and leaves without another word.

Oz continues to stand in the middle of the doorway, holding the Library door open with his left hand as he sighs under his breath and walks through the threshold of the doorway with calm steady steps. He shakes his head a minute after once he walks by three large bookshelves to the right of him.

The large Library consisted of many old, and new books, 15 huge bookshelves were situated on either side of the large expanded room, which was decorated quite beautifully might Oz add. Such unique details within the walls, beautiful intricate designs in the wall pattern with a cream coloured back ground, as the floor was covered over with plush deep red carpet, and the giant chandelier overhead, made you think back to the old 1800's, what with the candles inside the chandelier instead of actual light-bulbs as the rest was decorated with bright red rubies and white silver chains. The Library was just tasteful and sophisticated with an excellent interior decorator who had a keen eye for fashion and atmosphere.

But Oz couldn't fully enjoy the atmosphere that the library was willing to portray, instead, he was still mulling over the fact that he practically yelled in Gilbert's face for trying to help him in a time of need.

Gilbert was only trying to help lift the load off his shoulders, but Oz told him not to deal with the burdens that he has to deal with on his own.

They were his problems, they were his to deal with.

If he didn't…And if his father found out that he had help from the inside, his father would only think of him un-worthy and weak.

His father taught him to always depend on yourself, trust no one, they will only betray and stab you in the back.

But Oz always thought differently…But now that he's been inside the Pandora Hearts Hospital for a whole month, Oz was beginning to think that maybe his father's words have always been true. And that he should stop doubting his father's words, and stop doubting himself and be strong. For himself.

_'__But what exactly do I do if someone actually only wants to help me…? Like Gil…?' _Oz shakes his head with a defeated sigh and drags his back down against the bookshelf to stare up into the beautiful crystal chandelier.

_'__I gotta stop thinking about it…I came here to read, I probably only have 10 minutes now.' _ Oz thought with sudden determination to get a hold of his favorite novel series and finish reading the long awaited chapter that he's been searching for, for well over a month.

He gets up from the floor of the library with determination blazing in his emerald eyes as he all but tramples over a pile of books to get towards the Fiction section of the library. As he hops over another pile of books, he stops dead in his tracks once he sees a fellow patient, and teenager, with short and light beige coloured hair, with his back to him, standing directly in front of the shelf that Oz was hurriedly striding towards.

With up-lifted eyebrows, Oz calmly walks over to the same shelf and looks at the novel series he's been so waiting patiently to read. The "Holy Knight" series. Just as Oz was looking over the book numbers, and trying to remember just what book number he was on, he lifts a timid hand towards the book, and touches finger tips with the boy.

"Sorry." They say in unison.

They both look towards each other and they share knowing looks.

"You like these series too?" The teenager with the short beige coloured hair says with light surprise in his voice.

Oz all but gushes as he hurriedly nods his head in agreement. "Oh yes! I love these series!" He enthuses happily.

"Huh." The teen huffs. "I thought I was the only one that ever sets foot inside the library." He admits bluntly, his voice monotone and hard. "So who's your favorite character?"

Oz giggles with excitement and announces with delight. "Oh! It _has to be_ Edgar!" He declares.

The teenager standing beside Oz snorts loudly and scowls in disdain. "I absolutely hate that useless piece of shit." He deadpans.

Oz visibly fumbles with the book he held inside his hands as it drops to the floor. "What?" Oz all but shouts in disbelief. "Why? He's the second most beloved and important character in the series!" Oz defends, bending over to retrieve the book he has let fallen to the floor. "Who are you anyways to judge an important character such as him?" Oz argues.

"It's none of your business who I am! And it's only logical that the most beloved and important character is Edward! The _lead_ and _starring_ character of the entire series!"

"Wait just a damn second!" Oz interjects, holding out a hand towards the scowling teenager beside him. "If Edgar is such a _downer_ to you, Edward was the one that made Edgar go through all the stress and—"

"—Well no one told that idiot, _Edgar_, to sacrifice himself for the sake of Edward, who was only trying to protect him from—"

"—WHAAAAT!?" Oz openingly whines, and loudly at that as he all but cries in the middle of the book shelves. "What do you mean 'sacrifice'?"

"He dies." The teenager states, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't you read the eleventh book? The part where Edgar jumps in front of the blade of the sorcerer?"

"No!" Oz cries. "How can they just kill him off like thaaaat?" Oz shrieks in dismay.

The teenager beside him points a finger at Oz's suddenly depressed looking face, replacing the evident scowl with a terrified expression. "How can you not read that book yet? It was only the most read chapter in all of the Holy Knight series!"

"Well I didn't! I was looking for these books for a whole month now!" Oz complains, hugging the book to his chest as he fake sniffles and whimpers into the hard cover book. "How can you just spoil it for me? Haven't you heard of spoiler alert?" Oz hollers.

"Well what kind of an idiot doesn't keep up-to-date with the books?" The teenager snaps. "It's your fault for not reading for a whole month!"

"Shaddap!" Oz shouts. "Who just prances around spoiling the ending to their favorite series anyways? Book spoiling brat!" Oz argues, sticking his tongue out immaturely at the—taller—scowling teenager beside him.

Who scowls deeper and raises a threatening fist in Oz's face. "Who're you calling 'brat' brat? You're shorter than me! You blonde whiny runt!"

The air around them suddenly goes cold with ferocity and rage as they both settle their argument with a steely game of a death glares. The once playful bickering turns sour in little over 20 seconds.

"Who are you?" Asks the beige-haired teenager, taking a step back to assess the blonde-haired shorter teen standing a foot away from him.

Oz glowers a while longer, until he narrows his eyes and raises his head in defiance. "I should be asking you that, book spoiler."

"It's Elliot. If you're allowed in this library, it must mean you're a patient here too." He reasons, voice serious, just as serious as his expression.

"Do you have the time?" Oz suddenly shouts, his eyes going wide in shock at realizing he spent his precious and much needed time of reading, with petty arguing.

The beige-haired teenager, Elliot, raises a light brown eyebrow and looks to the clock overhead of them. "It's exactly 8:25, another 5 minutes and it's 8:30." Elliot replies, glaring back down at the teenager in front of him. "So what's your name?" He asks again.

Oz shakes his head and quickly looks back to the shelf in front of him. "Which book was it that Edgar…" He sniffles. "Dies in?" He weakly finishes.

Elliot rolls his eyes and points to the eleventh book. "Eleven. It's the very last chapter." He answers easily.

Oz nods. "Thanks…What's next on the schedule for today?" He asks himself, trying to fish out the hand-made schedule from within his back pocket of his black knee length cargo shorts.

"It's Wednesday. That means at 8:30, we get to call our relatives at home until 9 o'clock." Elliot answers with a dark scowl.

Oz stops his frantic and nervous searching, with a breezy chuckle and calmly takes the book out of the shelf in front of him, looking at the hard cover book with sad eyes. "I don't need to hurry then…I have no one to call back home…" He states quietly, soft smile on his face.

Elliot arches an eyebrow and crosses his arms over his chest as he leans against the book shelf beside him. "That makes two of us." He states.

The atmosphere around them turns awkward and silent.

"So what're—" Elliot starts, before he gets cut off from his sentence when a shrill voice of a girl practically squealing loudly inside the library.

"Ooooooz…!"

Oz's eyes light up happily at the sound of her voice calling. "I'm over here!" He quickly shouts back with a bright smile, Oz remains silent and giddy on the spot.

Elliot raises an eyebrow. "Who's that…? Sounds…" _'Familiar…' _His thought finishes.

Both of the teenagers standing in front of their favorite novel series, soon hear hurried footsteps on the floor. And soon, Oz's and Elliot's eyes go wide just as the person reveals herself from around the corner of the book shelf before them. Oz's expression were more along the lines of pure and utter relief and joy, while Elliot's expression turns from shocked, to a deep dark scowl.

"Ada!" Oz shouts with happiness, running over to his elder sister with his arms out stretched, ready for a hug.

Ada smiles brightly, her cheeks tinting with a light blush as she embraces her shorter brother, her poor brother, he was only three inches shorter than her, and yet, he just seemed so small. She could practically wrap her arms around him twice if she wanted to…She noticed right then and there that Oz has lost weight…And quite a bit from how skinny and small he felt inside her arms. She couldn't help but hold him a little while longer, her throat constricting with an over-whelming need to cry. Her baby brother, was inside a hospital for the mentally unstable. How could she have let this happen..?

"Ada..?" Oz whispers, eyes going wide in fear when he hears a soft whimper from over his shoulder. "Are you alright?" He asks quietly.

Ada shakes her bright blonde head, her long hair flowing gently down Oz's shoulder with the movement, her eyes glossy with unshed tears and throat so unbelievably sore from holding in her tiny whimpers. "No…Oz…I miss you so much…" She states quietly, her voice cracking with emotion.

Oz's expression turns from shocked, to hurt in seconds. "I'm sorry…" He whispers, hugging her tighter. "I miss you too…"

Just as Oz was about to let her go and wipe her tears away, they both hear a loud scoff come from behind them. Elliot stands behind them, eyes narrowing in disdain and hate as he stomps towards them, only to quickly pass them by without a second glance in their direction.

"Vessalius." Elliot spat.

Oz quickly lets go of Ada and glares heatedly at the back of Elliot's head. "What did you say?" He shouts.

"Oz…" Ada warns softly. "Don't do anything, me and Elliot know each other from school and—"

"Don't say my name like were friends!" Elliot snaps, quickly turning around to glare maliciously at Ada. "Don't even say my name Vessalius _trash_." He growls.

"Don't you _dare_ talk to my sister that way you—" Oz yells.

"—Stop it Oz!" Ada shouts, grabbing onto her little brother's shaking shoulders and holding him back.

"Let go!" Oz shouts, struggling to release Ada's hold on his sleeves.

Elliot glares. "So you're her brother?" He spits. "_Another_ piece of trash." He grumbles, turning around.

Oz's shoulders sag in defeat once Elliot advances to the door and quickly slams it shut behind him. Oz shakes his head furiously and falls to his knees on the floor. He should've hit him! Should've forced Elliot to apologize to his sister! How could someone just _hate_ an innocent girl like Ada? What did she ever do to him? Why does Elliot hate Vessalius's?!

_'__Does that mean he hates me too…?' _Oz thought, shaking his head once again with a long defeated sigh. "I'm sorry Ada…I couldn't make him apologize…I should've—"

"—Shh Oz…" Ada gently whispers, kneeling down behind her younger brother to lean her head on his back. "He's always hated me…Actually; he always hated Vessalius's." She announces with a sad sigh escaping her freshly glossed lips.

"Why?" Oz whispers. Voice struggling to keep calm.

"I don't know why.' Ada says gently. "I think it has something to do with his parents hating ours, it goes deeper into history than even I have the knowledge of." She states with a small breezy chuckle. "Let's go…Visiting hours are just starting." She announces, getting up from the spot behind her brother.

Oz nods his head and sighs again. "I feel bad…"

"Why?" Ada asks, tilting her head to the side.

"I…Already got into an argument with someone else today…" He admits sheepishly. "I'm not feeling myself right now…" He whispers, eyes looking at anything but at his most likely disappointed looking sister.

Ada only shakes her head with a soft smile on her face. "You probably just had a long month…I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit you as often as I would've liked…" She frowns.

Oz smiles and hugs her sister once again. "It's alright, you're here now. I'm happy." He announces, smiling brightly as he takes his sister slender hand in his. "Let's go for a walk, I'll show you around." He grins.

Ada smiles and nods her head. "I would love that Oz."

As Oz leads Ada out of the library, he couldn't help but smile faintly at their hand holding. She had always done this to him when he was much younger, but they haven't held hands in years because he over-grown that sweet tradition, and his father had never liked it, his father always told Ada to: "Stop letting the boy depend on you! He's much older now," when he was little over 9-years-old, but now just felt like the right time to hold his sisters much tinier hand in his. He hadn't notice that they had stopped by the doorway of the library until his sister looked down at him sadly as she wiped a single tear away from his cheek.

"I'm right here brother." She whispers with a small smile.

Oz shakes his head and looks down to the floor. "I'm sorry…" He whispers quietly, shoulders shaking. "I'm sorry…" He states again, voice trembling with emotion as he tightens the grip on his sister's hand.

Ada merely shakes her head, and embraces her brother. "Shh…It's okay…" She states soothingly, rubbing her brother's trembling back as she tried her hardest to hold back her own tears. "I'm always right here brother…" She soothes.

"I hate it in here…"

"I know." She nods her head.

"They…They all look a-at me…Like I-I'm a f-freak…" He whispers out, shoulders racking with emotion and heavy sniffling.

Ada sighs. "I'm sorry Oz…It isn't your fault you're in here."

"Yes it is! Ada." Oz lightly pushes his sister away at arm's length to meet her bright green eyes—the same colour as his own. "I…I never told you why I'm in here…" He states, eyes quickly shooting down to the floor.

Ada shakes her head with a smile. "You don't need to tell me Oz. It was dad, wasn't it?"

Oz shakes his head. "Yes…But no…" He sighs heavily and hangs his head. "I…Did something…Pretty stupid Ada…" He announces quietly.

"How can you do something stupid Oz? You're perfect." Ada smiles.

"No I'm not!" Oz suddenly shouts, eyes hurt and face still streaming with tears. "I…I cut both of my wrists…I tried to commit suicide the day I got expelled from school!" He couldn't stop it, the truth…The word vomit.

It was all pouring out including his emotions, the truth that he hadn't told a soul, not even Break, his own therapist and counsellor.

"I was found by f-father…In my room, in my own puddle of blood. I…I tried Ada…" He whispers, tears hot as they only continue to pour down his flushed cheeks. "I tried to kill myself…And failed…I…I'm so sorry Ada!" He pleads, his emerald eyes searching for anything inside his sister's wide and shocked eyes. "Please…Please forgive me…" He says imploringly, his hands shaking as he wraps his arms around his own torso. "I didn't…Want you to…F-find out because…Because I was afraid you would hate me…Like father hates me…!" He desperately shouts, eye going wide in sudden fear as he grips his own shoulders with his hands.

Ada quickly closes the distance to wrap her arms tenderly around Oz as she lets out her own desperate cries and small tremors, her whole form shaking even while she tried hugging Oz hard into her body, her tears stream out of her tightly shut eyes and create a barely visible line of eye-liner and mascara to run and fall down her flushed cheeks.

"Don't blame yourself for what father made you go through; none of this is your fault but dads. He tries though Oz, he tries hard to keep us going and getting somewhere in life. So don't blame yourself for what father made you go through alone. I still love you. I can never hate you. Ever. You're the only one I have left…" She states truthfully, her brother ceased his tears, but he still sniffled and made tiny whimpering noises as he nods his head, the movement causes her to smile, because every time he nodded his head, his forehead would hit her breasts. "That hurt…" She states, smiling softly when she only receives a pitiful sounding chuckle from Oz.

"Wanna go outside now? Dry our pitiful tears?" Ada asks lightly.

Oz nods again. And he couldn't help but chuckle when Ada squeals in fright from when his forehead accidentally knocks against her boob once again.

"You have big boobs Ada, are they getting bigger too?" He asks finally looking up to meet his sisters red-rimmed and tear filled eyes.

And when he does, he laughs aloud, both of his sisters hands were atop and covered over her big assets with a dark blush across her face.

"Shut up Oz!" She shouts, smacking him playfully in the arm with her hand.

Oz merely chuckles and wipes away the rest of his tears from his face. "No more crying, if either one of us cries again either today, or for our next visit, we'll have to be dared something embarrassing."

"No Oz! You know I'll lose right away!" Ada argues, wiping her tears away as well. "I'm a—"

"—big cry baby?" Oz finishes, smirking up at his sister, who only knocks him in the forehead with a flick of her fingers. "Ow!" He whines, holding his now pink forehead.

"That's what you get." Ada pouts, only to smile brightly and take Oz's hand in her own again. "So, wanna show me around? And tell me about all the exciting stuff you get to do in here?"

"Pfft!" Oz sputters. "_Exciting?_ Sorry Ada, I don't think these people know the meaning of 'excitement'." He says with a passionate roll of his eyes. "We're all on a strict hospital schedule, but I guess I can show you around and tell you about the people I've met. Some are nice, some are just weird but are very good people." He states, smiling happily as they both head down the hallway, hand in hand.

"And I also wanna tell you about the body guard I have." He states with a small shy smile.

* * *

_Ada and Elliot, all in one chapter? Yet again, more characters are introduced! So anyways...Hope you liked this chapter! leave a comment and I'll answer your questions as fast as I can!_


	9. Hope?

_Hardly any reviews for the 8th chapter! What happened peeps? If you didn't like the major time skip from one week to a whole month, then I'm sorry I didn't warn you guys earlier. But hey, that's just how it is. I had to do the time skip. But maybe I'll be considerate and write an epologue for this story. Stating what happened within the time skip. And maybe I'll type up the AND NOW going back to the original time line and state what exactly had changed between our characters, like, all of the characters, not just between Gil and Oz._

* * *

Chapter 9: Hope.

_-Ada, Oz's older sister, had dropped by for a visit. All seems well when it comes to the blonde busty girl, but why did she try to hide something from him? And why didn't anyone tell him before he made a fool out of himself?-_

9:00 P.M

It was now nine o'clock, and that meant another 30 minutes and visiting hours would be over, and each patient was to head back to their inpatient dorm rooms quickly right after.

Oz sat outside, enjoying the chilled breeze that gusts through the trees, alongside his older sister Ada, who was sitting beside him underneath the big oak tree. Both blondes were currently enjoying the clear dark blue sky overhead and watched as the odd coloured leaves swayed gently in the wind.

"Do you remember the time when I told both you and dad that I was gay?" Oz suddenly asks, face smiling, but his heart was beating erratically with fear and embarrassment at just what it was he was going on about.

Ada smiles sadly and nods her head. "Yeah…" She certainly did, only because her father's reaction to the news wasn't how she thought it was going to be, hell, it was ten times as worse than she thought it was going to be, shaking her head from that awful memory of her father. She looks back to Oz with a bright smile. "I was pretty surprised that you told me, but it took a lot of guts for you to do." She remarks, smiling adoringly over to her baby brother. "And I was so proud that you did. I always suspected as much, when I caught you trying to put on my clothes." She giggles lightly at the memory of her walking into her room, to find her 10-year-old brother, trying on her high heeled shoes and summer dress.

Oz blushes lightly and scratches meekly at his cheek. "Yeah…You better not've told anyone about that." He scowls at his sister, who only waves that question away with a secretive hum and a sly smile. He only shakes his head with a small smile as he carries on in his explanation. "W-well…I guess me announcing that I'm gay is much easier than actually being gay." Oz states.

Ada tilts her head to the side and peeks over to Oz with curiosity. "What does that mean? Are you saying that you aren't actually gay?" She asks, feeling a wee-bit put off by her brother's statement, if people say they are gay then they should be proud of it, but if they say that they are, just to make people shocked or to possibly make them laugh because it was only a cruel joke to them, then she thought that was a disrespectful. But when she was about ready to scold her younger brother, Oz shakes his head with a smile.

"I'm gay Ada, I like men…And what I'm about to tell you will only prove that I'm gay, because I…" He quickly ducks his furiously blushing face in both his hands as he shakes his head, wanting to take back what he was about to say and just let the tree behind him swallow him up whole.

"Come on Oz!" Ada implores, grabbing her younger brother by the arm as she tries to pull his hands away from his face. "You can't just start to say something, and then turn around and not tell me!" She argues.

Oz shakes his head with a defeated sigh and slaps both his hands on his knees as he pulls them up to his chest to rest his forehead against the bare skin of his knees. "I'm gay because…I think that I…Like…Someone I shouldn't…" he states truthfully. "But I'm not gonna tell you who it is though!" Oz quickly interjects once he sees that his sister opened her widely grinning mouth to most likely ask who it was he had his eyes on.

Ada pouts and crosses her arms over top her large breasts. "And why not?"

"Because." He says simply, nodding his head with a small smile.

Ada sighs heavily and stretches out her long legs, but first she makes sure to hide her panties—because she was still wearing her white school uniform skirt—and folds her legs together tightly, just to make sure. "Fine. Don't tell me." She pouts. "But I expect you to tell me when you and whoever mystery man you have, are in a relationship." She states with a wink and a giggle when she receives a dark blush from Oz.

They once again fall into comfortable silence as they both stare up into the clear dark blue sky, not a cloud could be seen, and there wasn't a star in the sky that they couldn't see. Each star, including the moon were shining brightly tonight and more radiant than both of the Vessalius teenagers have ever seen before.

"I don't really like this school uniform we have to wear at that new school father sent me to…" She states with a small pout to her expression. "All the boy's like to stare, especially when it comes to Psychical Education, every girl in class are supposed to wear short shorts and a plain white t-shirts, so if one girl pours water over herself to cool off—"

"—it's like a front row seat to a wet t-shirt contest?" Oz finishes, glaring heatedly at the innocent grass beneath his hand. "Perverts…" He grumbles disdainfully, as though it was the grass' fault.

Ada nods sheepishly. "Yeah…But don't worry Oz!" She quickly changes her expression. "It's a really fun class, and I always make sure I don't pour water on myself, not until were inside the girls locker room!" She states with a bright smile. "So I'm careful!" She giggles.

Oz couldn't help but smile. "I'm glad to hear that, don't want no smelly perverted boy's staring at my sis!" He says defensively, putting up a small fist to prove that he can be strong and fight if he really wanted to.

Ada merely laughs and waves the remark away. "You sound like an older brother instead of the younger brother." She giggles.

"And for good reason! Boy's nowadays, all they think about is sex, sex, orgy, and hopefully more sex afterwards."

"Quite saying that word Oz!" Ada squeals, holding her hands over her little brother's mouth with a bright blush staining her cheeks. "You're too young to be saying that word!"

Oz smiles mischievously underneath his sister's hand and licks the center of Ada's palm.

"Eeek!" She squeaks in fright as she quickly removes her hands. "Gross Oz!"

"Sex." Oz states with a smile, right after his sisters hand was removed from his mouth. "Body fluids." He adds with a smirk.

"Oz!" Ada hisses, putting a finger over her mouth in a shushing manner.

"Orgy, bent forward and butt in the air!" He laughs.

"Oz!"

Both blondes turn their incredulous faces towards the sound of the horrified sounding voice.

And Oz couldn't help but hold both hands over his widely grinning mouth to his stifle his laughter when Gilbert made his appearance known, a scowl was set on his face, but from the dark blush stained on the older males face, was clear indication that Gilbert had heard every word that Oz had practically shouted out for the whole world to hear.

"What the hell are you doing shouting out those kinds of…Things…!" Gilbert hisses.

Oz laughs aloud and slaps his knee. "Wow Gil! I didn't think you would be able to stand straight when all the blood is rushing to your face!" Oz teases, grinning happily when he notices Gilbert quickly looking away trying in vain to hide the dark blush.

"Oz?" Ada whispers, tugging lightly on her little brother's sleeve. "Is that…Gilbert Nightray…?" She whispers sheepishly, hiding her face with help from Oz's back.

Oz wrinkles his brow in confusion and looks over his shoulder at his blushing sister. "Yeah…" He trails off, looking back to Gilbert suspiciously. "Do you know my sister Ada, Gilbert?" He asks calmly, trying hard to sound nonchalant and uncaring. But with the hard set in his eyes, it was clear indication that he was a bit pissed at not knowing this little tid-bit of information.

Most importantly, why would his sister keep this a secret from him? How long have Ada and Gilbert known each other? And _how_ did they know each other, when none of them have even spoken a word about one another…?

"Oz…" Ada warns lightly. "Don't start anything with Gilbert now…" She pleads quietly, already knowing the look in her brother's eyes. Why was he so mad?

Gilbert looks down to Oz with confusion expressed in his face as he nods his head. "Yeah…Why?" He asks, folding his arms over his chest with a scowl. Oz sounded suspicious; surely he doesn't think that he and his sister Ada were dating. He would've told the kid sooner if he was. Besides, he had a good reason why he didn't tell Oz that he knew his sister. But was it okay for _him_ to announce it?

Oz scowls. "Because, it sure seems like she knows you." There, he finally lost his patience and nonchalant façade. "How do you two know each other?" Oz asks, getting up from the spot on the grass and took a few good steps back from his blushing sister and the confused looking Gil as he crosses his arms over his chest.

"Oz, I know Gilbert…Because I know his younger brother…" Ada announces quietly. "Do you know Vincent?" Ada asks, blushing furiously. "I…I wanted to tell you after b-but…" She trails off nervously, biting her bottom lip and chewing lightly.

"But what? Tell me 'bout _what_ after?" Oz asks, shooting a glare Gilbert's way. "What are you two hiding…?" Oz asks his older sister, feeling his anger starting to get the best of him.

Ada quickly points to Gilbert. "Me and him are NOT dating Oz, if that's what you're getting at. Because—"

"—she is seeing ME Oz Vessalius."

All three heads turns towards Vincent's calm voice and Oz felt his hackles rise.

There Vincent stands, beside the tree with a small smile stretched across his pale face. "Ada and I have been seeing each other for a week now. That is all. I had no idea that you two were related until two days ago actually." Vincent states, looking directly at Oz's seething expression. "Please don't be angry at your sister for not telling you sooner, because we didn't actually know if we were on the same term in our new relationship. We didn't want to put a title on it so soon and announce to everyone that we were in fact dating." He explains calmly.

"So what?" Oz asks, steely glare set on Vincent's mixed-matched eyes. "Were you two planning on keeping it a secret from me until you both figured out what the hell you two are?" Oz asks, shaking his head down to Ada. "You could've told me instead of trying to hide it Ada." He scolds, but then shakes his head with a sigh and give Ada his best little brother smile once he looks back up from the ground. "Because me and Vincent are friends." He chuckles at his sister's incredulous expression. "I would've been happy for the both of you. Even if the both of you didn't know where it was you guys stand." He smiles, before looking towards Gilbert and giving him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for trying to get mad…I just…Didn't want my sister dating someone I…" He trails off, unsure and so incredibly embarrassed once realization hit him.

What the hell was he just about to say? Was he _actually just _going to say, _out loud_, and in front of Gilbert, Vincent, and Ada themselves, that he didn't want his sister dating someone he _likes?!_

Oz blushes furiously and shakes his head quickly when he realizes he's been staring off into the distance while leaving his sentence untold for a couple seconds too long. "I just didn't want my sister _dating_ that's all…" He quickly lies. "It's kinda like a protective older brother thing, I guess." He shrugs.

"But you're the youngest." Gilbert points out.

"Gee, thanks for stating that insightful tip Captain-obvious." Oz states, rolling his eyes sarcastically. "But I am sorry Gil, Ada." He says smiling down at his sister. "Do you guys want to do something? Like…I don't know, walk around the hospital?" He smiles. "Since we can't exactly walk out of the hospital grounds any time soon…?" Oz sighs heavily, it sure was a drag staying confined inside the protective and over-bearing walls of the hospital. He wasn't exactly a prisoner, but nowadays, it sure started to feel like he was. He was pretty damn sure he was going more crazy than he was before he came here, what with being locked away inside a hospital for such a long amount of time.

Ada smiles brightly and gets up from the grass. "Sure! Do you want to…Vincent…?" She asks sheepishly, peeking up at Vincent's still smiling face with a light blush and small smile of her own.

Vincent shakes his head. "Visiting hours are almost up, and I have to be heading out soon." He announces sadly. "But maybe this Saturday we could go for supper? That is, if your brother gives us his blessing." Vincent states with a smile as he looks over to the small blonde-haired teenager still giving him a slightly dirty little look. The nerve of that brat. "Would you mind if I take your sister out this coming Saturday?" Vincent asks, masking his displeasure at being stared at so suspiciously.

Oz looks from Vincent's curious expression, to Ada's pleading eyes, and sighs heavily in defeat. "Fine…But what about the hospital Vincent? You're a patient here too aren't you?" He asks curiously. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't actually saw Vincent around when the weekends came and gone. And he also didn't want his older sister dating someone that was a patient for a mental hospital; it was bad enough that she was related to a loony, but dating one? That was a whole new dangerous ground she was carelessly treading on.

"I'm only an outpatient." Vincent states proudly. "I don't have to stay 24 hours inside the hospital every day of the week, so I can come and go as I please, and have free time every Saturday and Sunday." He explains thoroughly with a nod of his blonde head.

Oz really did like the man's face, only because his face looked a lot like Gilbert's. He quickly shakes those thoughts out of his head and smiles approvingly at Vincent. So Vincent wasn't a total nut-case like he was. And he didn't have to stay inside the hospital all the time like he did. So…What exactly was the problem with Ada dating Vincent? His gut was telling him that something didn't feel right when it came down to Ada and Vincent dating, but he just shrugged it off as a "protective brother" roll again.

Oz grins in delight and gives the two blondes two thumbs up. "Go have fun this Saturday guys." He smiles.

Ada couldn't help but grin widely at her little brother and give him a quick hug before looking back over to Vincent. "Where are you going so soon?" She tries hard not to pout, but the pout was clear in her tone of voice. She didn't want to be needy or clingy, but she hadn't seen Vincent at all today or yesterday. She actually really did miss him.

Vincent smiles over to Gilbert and lightly puts a hand upon his older brother's shoulder. "Me and Gilbert here have plans. I'll pick you up Saturday, at your apartment again I assume?" The blonde-haired man asks gently.

Ada nods. "Yes! Remember where I live or do you need the address?" She asks sheepishly.

"I have it." Vincent reassures, than looks back to Oz with a smile. "Will you be accompanying me and Ada this Saturday? Or do you already have plans?" He asks casually.

Oz shakes his head and thumbs towards the hospital. "I have to stay here all day, every day, even on weekends." He sighs dramatically. "But if only I could have someone sneak me outta here, just for the night and drop me off back at the hospital the day after…" He sighs again, hand over his forehead for dramatics as he groans begrudgingly.

Gilbert rolls his eyes at the obvious display of Oz hinting at him to sneak him out. "Please, you can't go anywhere, not without Break's permission and not without taking me along." He announces with another roll of his eyes in exasperation at the mere thought.

Oz smiles darkly over to Gilbert. "Ohh…Reeeally…?" He purrs mischievously.

Gilbert felt the blood drain from his face and his palms start to sweat at the tone and knowing look on the younger male's expression. "I don't like that look in your eye…" He nervously takes a step backwards.

"Ohh Giiillll…?" The blonde-haired teen purrs, lacing his hands behind his back as he rocks back and forth on the heels of his shoes. "Wanna do me a favooour…?" He grins deviously.

"No." Gilbert answers quickly, shaking his head furiously. "_Hell_ no. I'll get in trouble if I sneak you out! Because seriously? It's only been a month since you got here, and Break isn't going to allow a patient as new as you, out."

"Then sneak me out." Oz smiles.

"Hell no Oz! My job is on the line!" Gilbert argues, continuing to shake his dark coloured head.

"Please Gilbert?" Ada interjects, putting her hands together and staring up at Gilbert's scowling face with big pleading eyes.

Gilbert felt his resolve start to shatter away at the mere look in the younger girl's eyes, but he shakes his head and tightly shuts both his eyes in order to not stare into them. "No." He deadpans.

Soon, Gilbert's eyes snap open wide when he feels a pair of small hands on both his forearms, and sure enough, when he looks down, Oz is looking up at him with puppy dog eyes, and a small smile on his face.

"Please Gil?" Oz whispers. "It's only for the night…I'll be back in the morning too." He drums his fingers on the man's forearm and leans in closer, his chin resting upon the crossed arms of Gilbert's.

Gilbert wanted to turn tail and run like hell away from the devilish child, but the fact that he was _this close_ to Oz, without being a stuttering blushing mess, was a new high for him. He felt great, and the fact that Oz was just _so close to him_, he didn't want to move. Now Gilbert was seriously thinking that something was very wrong with him, mentally.

"I want to spend time with my sister before she leaves on Monday…Who knows when I'll be able to see her again…" Oz frowns, eyes falling to the center of Gilbert's open collared shirt, seeing the smooth skin underneath, he shivers and closes his eyes. "And I'll owe you a favour back…Whatever you want, whenever." Oz whispers quietly. His eyes fluttering open and they lock eyes instantly.

Something deeper was being said through their eyes, a hidden meaning was clear in Oz's words, and something, like a spark, or an electric bolt went right through the two, and it was done. Nothing more was needed to be said, they both got exactly what the other was saying. All that they needed to do, was act upon their sudden ideals and imaginations and make it real.

"Okay…" Gilbert trails off, then sighs heavily and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe I let you get to me…Again…" He hangs his head.

But just as he does, he suddenly remembers Oz was leaning against him—with the boy's face merely inches away from his own—and when Gilbert opens his golden eyes, they stare widely into surprised emerald eyes. Their foreheads were touching.

With a bright blush settling across Gilbert's face, he quickly backs away and wrings his hands together nervously.

"S-sorry." He quickly mumbles out.

Oz merely tilts his head, touches his forehead lightly, and smiles small at the warmth he felt seeping in through his bones. "It's alright." He smiles, shakes his head with a light chuckle.

Vincent stood further away from them both, with a dark scowl and eyes narrowing. Something clearly was up with the two, he suspected as much before, but now…Now something was clearly happening, his brother, his only sibling left, and his only family member, was slowly being taken away from him. And with the likes of a child! What can Gilbert possibly see in the brat? Oz Vessalius, the mere name struck a nerve in Vincent's usually calm demeanor. When he first saw the boy inside the hospital, he knew he was a Vessalius and because of that, kept his distance, he noticed the boy's staring in Expressive therapy and so on as well, and didn't mind at all, people always admired him from afar, but he would be lying if he wasn't just a bit disgusted that a Vessalius was ogling him. The boy was a _Vessalius_, the name that the Nightray family oh so despised. And Gilbert of all people, a fellow Nightray, was put under the boys spell!

But he still had his plan…He made "friends" with Oz, and they hung out on numerous occasions inside the therapy classes and lessons. But he still wasn't as close to Oz as Gilbert was. He still needed more time…

"Vincent…?"

Vincent blinks out of his cruel thoughts of the child across from him, and looks down to Ada Vessalius, who was standing at his side the whole time during Gilbert's and Oz's exchange of knowing looks and shy spoken words, and he plasters on a fake smile. "Yes?"

"Didn't you and Gilbert have to go somewhere?" Ada reminds him nervously, smiling small towards the man at her side.

Vincent nods his head and looks back to Gil, who was still wringing his hands together and staring intently at Oz, who was staring right back at him, with a smile stretched far too widely across his devious little face.

"Brother! Are we still leaving?" Vincent reminds his elder brother, he was trying desperately and _hard_ not to raise his voice and completely lose his temper.

Gilbert shares one last glance at Oz, before he sighs heavily and nods his head. He suddenly wanted to stay, if it meant Oz was going to be here. "Yeah, wanna head to the car? I'll be there soon. Its 9:30 now and I have to escort Oz back to his dorm room." Gilbert states, shoving his hands into both pockets of his black boot leg jeans, as he casually leans his hip to the side.

Oz smiles happily. Now was the time to apologize for his earlier behavior to Gilbert, and now was the time where he could freely be himself around the older male and state exactly what was on his mind about their new situation he himself, had put them through. But firsts things first.

Oz turns his head towards Ada and smiles sadly. "I guess this is good-bye, until we see each other Saturday sis." He announces.

Ada smiles sadly and nods her head. "Yeah…"

Both Vessalius's walk towards each other with smiles alight on both of their young faces as they only embrace soon after, with a laugh, childish bickering, and light punches as they gave one another a quick hug.

"I miss you already Oz." Ada states sadly.

Oz merely shakes his head with a light chuckle. "I'll see you though Ada. So be good until then, and I will too." He smiles broadly, giving his sister one last light punch to her slender arm, making sure to only knock her gently to the side before they step back and head towards both of their Nightray men awaiting patiently behind them.

Ada takes Vincent's hand shyly and smiles happily at Oz and Gilbert. "Good night you guys! I'll see you both Saturday!" She states happily, before she and Vincent walk away.

"Good night Vincent!" Oz waves, smiling.

Vincent merely nods his head into Oz's direction with a fake smile, before he and Ada turn away and head into the direction of the parking lot on the other side of the hospital. Watching the retreating figures of both Ada and Vincent until they are both gone from his vision, Oz sighs heavily and turns around with a smile directed to Gilbert.

"Smooth." He states with a laugh.

Gilbert quirks an eyebrow and scowls at Oz. "What is?"

"'Its 9:30 now and I have to escort Oz back to his dorm room'." Oz quotes Gilbert's exact words with a sly smile. "Last I checked, I had to be escorted back to my room at 10 o'clock."

Gilbert blushes brightly and he swings around and turns his back to Oz with a scowl. "Let's just go, little devil." Gilbert hisses.

Oz only laughs and quickly skips off to Gilbert's side as they both head into the direction of the inpatient dorm building. "So, I'm a jerk huh?" Oz states bluntly.

Gilbert raises his eyebrow and looks down to Oz. "What? Why?"

Oz rolls his eyes and lightly pushes Gilbert to the side, only managing to move Gilbert an inch away from him, before he easily steps back into rhythm at his side. "You know why I'm a jerk…I…Pushed you away when you were only trying to help earlier." Oz mutters, he really hated talking to others about what exactly he felt and what was bothering him. But now, with Gilbert, it was easy, a bit nerve racking, but it was easy talking with Gilbert, this new sense of…Whatever this was that was now happening between them, was a whole new thing that Oz just has to get used to, if he ever wanted to remain at Gil's side.

"So…I'm sorry for being a jerk. Still best friends?" Oz asks, wanting to take Gilbert by the sleeve and pull him into a forced embrace, but sufficed with merely a bright smile and a light knock of his knuckle on Gilbert's arm.

Gilbert nods his head. "Of course, I think I was the one being pushy and wanting to force the information out of you, so…I'm…S-sorry too..." He smiles lightly and bumps his elbow into Oz's side shyly.

As they head closer to the dorm building, both sharing shy and nervous glances without the other knowing, and the both of them sharing the comfortable silence, they finally stop right in front of the dorm building. And as they stand side by side at the doorway, both of them still exchanging nervous glances towards each other and as the silence stretches on, something was needed to be said, something was needed to be shared, something must happen _now_ and _fast_ before the moment was over.

But they both didn't have a clue on what exactly it was that they hadn't already said and done. Maybe something more was needed to be said and acted upon, but they didn't know what exactly it was that they needed to do.

So with a defeated sounding sigh from Gilbert, the older male takes Oz's sleeve in his hand and pulls the teenager towards him and…with a bright blush stained across his face, and with trembling lips and hands, he pats the boy on the head and heads off without another glance and a word.

Oz, now standing alone at the doorway, merely chuckles lightly and holds his head. _'At least were getting somewhere…' _Oz shakes his head and groans lightly.

"Now what's supposed to happen?" He asks himself quietly. He turns around and opens the dorm building's door with a small displeased look and steps inside, he closes the door behind him and looks around the dimly lit hallway, and everyone looked to already be asleep, so with a shrug, he walks down the long stretch of hallway and heads to the stairs located just across from the front door. His heart feeling crushed underneath an unknown weight...His head was telling him to turn around and run for the safety of Gilbert. But the unbearable dread and despair was slowly engulfing his entire being.

His depression was getting to him. He felt it surrounding him on all sides, the inevitable feeling of...Loneliness.

His mind was racing with possible scenes of he and Gilbert, some good and some bad, but most were fun and happy. The mere thought of them together made Oz's insides churn and flutter uncontrollably at the thought of being complete, and whole once again. But he also knew that he was going to make a mess of things between them sooner or later, if they ever decide to take a step beyond friendship. But is it worth it?

Oz thought so. But did Gil? And the biggest question was, did Gilbert feel the same way about him as he does to the security guard himself? Did the 24-year-old even know how it felt to like someone, and yet know deep down inside that it could never be? Oz definitely knew. Because what was happening to him now, emotionally, was the thing that Oz was trying hard to prevent from ever happening since the first time he ever set eyes on Gilbert.

So he was alright with liking Gilbert, and knowing that nothing could ever happen between them, and he was internally hoping that Gilbert did NOT feel the same about him. He was hoping that Gilbert would be the responsible one, and deny anything emotional that may or may not transpire between them. He liked that idea. But it didn't mean that he didn't feel hurt from the thought.

If Gilbert didn't like him, it hurt yes, but he was alright with that. Oz could freely announce that he liked Gilbert—to himself, not to anyone else—and that he would be alright with staying by Gilbert's side, even though he knew nothing could ever happen between them.

But at the same time, a little voice in the back of his head was nagging at him that he _should_ care, and that he _should_ put it to action. But he knew better not to. And it hurt with that realization.

* * *

_Oh Mah Geeerd! Inner turmoil!_

_Also, keh keh keh...Naughty little Gil...Like I said he IS a 24-year-old MALE with NEEDS. And apparently...No no, I won't say a darn thing...Hopefully you guys like this chapter more. This one was pretty long, and the chapters are just gonna keep getting longer as we progress, I don't want a story that has 46 chapters and so on, that's just too long!_

_What if my muse leaves me? So I'll probably keep this story to 25 and over. If I'm lucky and you guys continue to support this odd story!_

_Tah!_


	10. Cigarettes

_Usually I type up a particular song that has inspired me during each chapter I have made...So obviously, the song called "Sweater Weather" By "The Neighbourhood" had inspired me when typing up this chapter._

* * *

Chapter 10: Cigarettes.

_-Now switching to Gilbert's perspective, everything that is now transpiring in Gilbert's life is great and he couldn't have felt more relieved and happy, but just what exactly is happening between him and Oz? Was it something good or bad? And what exactly DOES he feel towards the teen?-_

Gilbert walks to the direction of the employee's only parking lot located on the other side of the Pandora Hearts Hospital, with quick strides and nervous glances in every direction. Just one of the many quirks that comes along with Gilbert Nightray, security guard to the hospital, and bodyguard for the infamous Oz Vessalius…And he couldn't have felt—and looked—more stumped and depressed.

What the hell was going through his mind when Oz had stated those tantalizing and secretive words of: "And I'll owe you a favor back…Whatever you want, whenever."

The mere words made Gilbert's mouth water in anticipation once the teen had stated it so secretively and…Achingly erotic.

And that to Gilbert, made him feel like such a perv!

_'__What the hell is wrong with me? And it just wasn't that time too!'_ Gilbert screams inside his head as he slouches his shoulders forward and drags his feet behind him once another set of words and shy glance—that had just transpired between him and Oz—flash through his mind.

He pulled the teen closer, for something more than a mere pat on the head—while they were standing in front of the inpatient dorm building not 5 minutes ago. What Gilbert was about to do was unforgivable and…Achingly erotic. He was about to kiss the teen.

_Kiss!_

On the _lips_, mouth to _mouth_.

And that was another thing that got Gilbert's mind racing with possible situations, good and bad. How the teenager would've reacted if maybe he had gone through with that sudden impulse, maybe Oz would've pushed him away, kneed him in the groin and spit in his face the harsh word "faggot". Or maybe…Oz would've leaned in closer, with his small hands tugging at his hair, and pulling them all the more closer, with a dreamy sigh and with inexperienced lips and tongue's playing together in an open mouthed kiss.

But like that would ever happen, because Gilbert. Did. Not. Go. For. It.

And that was why Gilbert was now walking towards his vehicle, with Ada Vessalius and his younger brother Vincent most likely waiting inside, with depressed sighs and frustrated sounding groans. He was a 24-year-old man for Christ sake! And Oz was only 16!

They were complete opposites at that!

Oz was more out-going, unpredictable, sly, devious, playful and welcoming, while he on the other hand, was _not_ out-going, was _completely_ predictable—to the point where Oz can tell just what exactly he was going to do and say without he even having the knowledge of at the time—he was anything _but_ devious, in fact he was downright nervous when it came to anything, he _wasn't_ playful, sure he likes to argue, but only because sometimes, he could learn a few things about a person with quick arguments and tongue lashing, and he was NOT welcoming, his whole demeanor and air around him just screamed "Nervous!" or "Shy!" or just plain ol' "Miserable!"

Those weren't the only things that he and Oz were complete opposites in, it was also their height differences, their age differences, their body language, and just about everything that came with their bodies and personalities!

But even with all those negative traits and differences, Gilbert couldn't help but _not feel the pull of Oz._

He couldn't help himself, he wanted, _wants_, something more.

But that's where it gets confusing, Gilbert is a security guard, he works for Pandora, and he swore an _oath_ to the higher-ups inside the hospital and his boss, that he would not _dare_ have any type of _relationship_ with a _patient_. Not while he works for them.

And also, Ada—Vincent's current fling—was Oz's sister, and if Vincent and Ada were ever to marry—which Gilbert highly doubted but couldn't help but dread over—that would make Gilbert and Oz _brother-in-laws_, practically relatives.

So what was there for Gilbert to do while in Oz's company?

Nothing.

Pretend nothing happened, for the sake of his job, for the sake of Ada and Vince's relationship, and for the sake of his and Oz's friendship.

Even if the mere thought of it all, made him completely depressed and miserable.

It's just what has to be done.

Gilbert shakes his shaggy dark head with a defeated sigh. _'So that's it? Nothing will ever happen…?' _Gilbert thought. Oz's smiling face and bright personality flashes through Gilbert's head, and he couldn't help but hold onto that image a little while longer, until with a sad sigh, he lets it go.

"Took you long, brother." Vincent remarks with a frown. "Did he get lost?" Vincent chuckles at the thought of such an idiot getting lost, when the inpatient dorm building wasn't more than a yard away from them.

"Yeah, yeah…" Gilbert replies with a frown. "And he didn't get lost, we just…" He trails off, suddenly remembering that Ada was nearby, and he felt that if he so much as spoke a word and told his experience to Vincent about just what exactly is going through his mind about Oz, Ada would most likely gossip about it with her younger brother, and that meant, Oz's and Gilbert's friendship, would either be ruined, or…No, it would just be ruined.

So with a quick exchange of knowing looks from his brother and himself, Gilbert changes the subject.

"I was taking long walking." Was his lame excuse as he shrugs his shoulders carelessly and strides towards his silver colored 2013 Mazda Sport 3. "So where do you wanna go?" He asks his brother before he ducks his head and slides into the driver's seat. He closes the door behind him, shrugs out of his black trench coat—that was a gift to him from his brother one Christmas—and turns on the ignition, listening to the pleasant hum of his car coming to life and feeling the warm wind gust in through the dash board.

Vincent ducks his head into the passenger's seat, after closing the door for Ada, and buckles his seat belt. "Why don't we drive Ada home first, and then head home? I feel like eating one of your home-cooked meals, brother. Since we hardly ever get to eat at home." Vincent suggest, smiling happily as he looks over to his depressed looking brother.

Who only shrugs. "Sure. What's the address Ada?" Gilbert asks with a small smile directed over his shoulder to the oldest Vessalius.

Ada smiles happily. "Volker Lane. 23rd avenue east. The tallest tanned apartment building." She states with a nod of her head.

Gilbert nods and pulls the lever to reverse.

The car abnormally gets silent, usually, he and Vincent would talk about just about everything and everyone, but right now, Gilbert just wanted silence, time to himself where he could think things through. But what more was there to think about? Oz and him…Just couldn't be more than just "friends".

Gilbert groans aloud and bumps his head onto the steering wheel, before he pulls the stick into drive and steadily weaves the car through the gates of the hospital and onto the streets. God, did he need a smoke…And maybe an alcoholic beverage when they get back home.

"What's wrong Gil?" Ada asks timidly as she leans over in her seat to rest her elbows on the arm rest situated between Gilbert and Vincent. "I've never seen you this tense." She comments lightly.

Gilbert shakes his head and sighs heavily. "Nothing." He lies. "Just a long and tiring day. Can't wait to get home and have a smoke." He states, mostly to himself, as he turns the wheel and drives onto another street.

The car then goes back to awkward silence. Feeling responsible for it all—and he _was_ the reason why it was so damn quiet—Gilbert turns on the radio, and instantly, the car is greeted with sweet sound, the sound of music and throbbing of bass. And of course, the melody of the man's voice on the other side, singing the lyrics.

_"__Use the sleeves on my sweater,  
Let's have an adventure,  
Head in the clouds, but my gravity's centered,  
Touch my neck and I'll touch yours,  
You and those little high waisted shorts."_

"I love this song!" Ada declares happily. "Can you turn it up please Vincent?" She asks shyly, stealing a glance at Vincent, who nods his head without looking at her and turns up the volume a little louder.

_"__She knows what I think about,  
And what I think about,  
One love, two mouths,  
One love, one house,  
No shirt, no blouse,  
Just us, you find out.  
Nothing I really want to tell you about, no…!"_

"Cause it's too cold, for you here, and now so let me hold both your hands in the holes of my sweater..." Ada sings quietly to herself in the back seat, looking at all the houses, apartment buildings, and the neighborhood fly right by them.

"What a stupid song…" Gilbert grumbles. Although he really did like the feel and the sound of the music, not to mention the smooth sound of the guy's voice singing the lyrics. It made him want to start swaying with the easy beat, but like hell would he be caught dancing and swaying to any type of music. So instead, he turns it up louder and listens closely to the lyrics. Smiling every once in a while when he imagines Oz dancing to this song, it would really make the song better if Oz dances to it.

He shakes his head, and narrowly misses the on-coming vehicle with a quick turn of his steering wheel and a silent curse.

"Gilbert!" Ada screams in fright, covering both her eyes with her hands.

Vincent merely smiles. "Faster." He tells his brother with a grin.

Gilbert shakes his head with a small smile and presses down further on the accelerator. He knew he shouldn't be listening to Vincent, what with the maniac grin his brother has plastered across his face, and he _really_ didn't want to be stopped by the cops and get a ticket and a fine for speeding either. But he really like this song, even when he just called it stupid seconds ago. But it all soon came to an end when the song was now over and he was forced to turn down the volume when an annoying and obnoxious song comes blaring out of the radio.

"I hate Lady Gaga." He mutters, quickly shutting off the radio after that.

"Really? I would've taken you as a Lady Gaga fan." Ada teases with a small smile.

Gilbert shakes his head with a growl. "That woman has no shame, prancing around in her underwear and weird high-heels on." He shivers at the thought. "It freaks me out."

"Her heels? Or the thought of a half-naked woman?" Vincent says aloud with a smirk.

Making Ada giggle, and Gilbert blush furiously.

* * *

Now with Ada dropped off at her own place and with Vincent in the shower, Gilbert heads to the balcony and lights up a cigarette as soon as he passes the threshold of his apartment and balcony door.

The security guard goes and takes a seat in one of the patio chairs and kicks his legs up onto the small black table in front of him. He lightly inhales, and deeply exhales, the wisps of smoke sliding out from his lips and into the chilly breeze of Mid-September air. It was starting to get pretty cold in Atlanta, not at all freezing or bone chilling, just light shiver worthy and sweater weather.

"Sweater Weather…" He mumbles to himself. That was the song that came on the radio before they had dropped off Ada at her apartment, it strangely reminded him of Oz, even though he has no recollection of hearing Oz ever sing that song, or ever seen him dance to the music.

Just as he inhales deeper on the filter of the cigarette, he looks up to the sky and stares wide eyed at the moon overhead. It was a magnificent sight, the stars circling all around the moon, shining brightly right along with the moons glorious silver rays, and twinkling high above their heads.

He couldn't help but sigh at the sight. "Beautiful…" He breathes.

"You better be talking about the moon and not that Vessalius brat brother."

Gilbert visibly flinches at the sound of his brother's voice behind his head and jumps in fright when a hand claps onto his shoulder. "You scared the shit outta me…" He exclaims, finally taking a good long drag of his cigarette, hand still trembling slightly from the little scare. Damn his over-active nerves

Vincent rolls his eyes and takes a seat beside his brother. "You didn't answer my question Gil." He states bluntly.

Gilbert raises an eyebrow at his suddenly gloomy sounding and angry looking brother. "What's wrong with you? And uhm…No…I'm not thinking about…" Damn…He couldn't even say Oz's name without blushing.

Vincent scoffs and waves his hand. "You're so obviously crushing on the young boy Gilbert."

"Am not!" Gilbert replies immaturely, than he sighs heavily when he only manages to get another eye roll from his brother, and for sounding like a complete teenager himself. "What if I am…?" He was asking the question mostly to himself, but he really would like Vincent's advice, considering that Vincent was the most popular with the ladies—and sometimes the men—and more successful at maintaining and keeping a relationship much greater than mere friendship with another human being.

"Keep your distance." Came Vincent's sincere answer.

Gilbert quickly looks towards Vincent with a glare. "I would if I could, genius, but I'm his frickin' body guard." He sighs heavily. "If only I hadn't been so friendly with him in the beginning." He mumbles. But then shakes his head hurriedly after. "Never mind…I don't think I would've liked that…" He trails off, worrying his lip with his teeth.

"Why?" Vincent asks casually, leaning down further into the patio chair.

"Because…O-Oz…Makes me…" He blushes and clears his throat. "H-h-he…"

Vincent shakes his head and gets up from the patio chair. "He makes you happy? Smile?" Vincent suggests, going over to the cage of the balcony as he leans over and stares down at the ants below. Well, the people below looked like ants, although, each human being was an ant in their own way and in his perspective.

Gilbert faintly smiles as he nods his head. "Yeah…He really does know how to make me happy…" he clears his throat and butts out his cigarette. "What do you want to eat?" He quickly asks, changing the subject as he hurriedly strides inside.

Vincent stood further behind. "Spaghetti…" He answers slowly, he soon clenches his hands into fists and growls angrily under his breath. _'Damn that Vessalius brat!' _His head roared. _'How DARE you take my brother away from me!' _Vincent quickly shakes his head and buries his face in his hands and slowly drags them down his face with a smile not 30 seconds after. _'I know what to do…I know how to break whatever is transpiring between them…I still have enough time before that brat sinks his claws into my brother.' _Vincent couldn't hold back the devious grin that stretches widely across his face as he took one last glance down to the ants below.

"My brother will continue to be happy, as long as he's with me." Vincent whispers quietly to himself, feeling a bubble of rising happiness seep into his body as he finally turns and heads inside their apartment. He had just a plan, and what a glorious plan it was!

The stage has been set, the actors have been prepared, now all that was left, was wait for the curtain to rise.

* * *

After supper, a fast game of poker with his brother, a shower and a change of clothes, Gilbert was now ready for bed.

But just as he bangs his back against the softness of his mattress, landing with a bounce, he sighs heavily and closes his eyes, blocking out what little light that was streaming in through the open curtained window to his left. He couldn't help but think. About everything, and everyone.

Well, about a certain blonde individual mostly.

"What's wrong with me…?" Gilbert whispers quietly to himself with a groan. He soon opens his eyes and looks over to the opened window to his left, his bed is situated just underneath the window, so when he looks up, the first thing he's usually greeted with was the sky, the sun, and at this very moment, he was greeted with the moon. He stares longingly at the moon and the stars, wishing he was sitting on the moon and far away from the troubles and awkward situations that are now transpiring in his 24-year-old life.

His eyes narrow and with a gloomy looking frown, he rests an arm over his forehead and stares hopelessly up at the sky. "24…16…" he whispers the age difference between himself and Oz.

There was a nine year age gap between them. When Oz finally turns twenty-four, Gilbert himself would be 34-years-old. And when Oz turns thirty-four, Gilbert would then be 42-years-old.

How could he even think of being with Oz when there was a nine year gap between them? Nothing would ever work out between them as well. Everything would be too complicated. Such difficulty with just maintaining the friendship they have now, and that definitely wouldn't change if they take a step beyond the borders of friendship and delve further into the acts of a relationship. Such trouble.

_'__He needs someone who's the same age as he is, someone who can protect him, someone who can keep up with him…Someone who isn't me…' _That thought struck Gilbert hard, it hurt him because, well…It was the truth. He knew that much.

And he now knew what he needed to do, he needed to let Oz know that nothing could ever happen between them, either than the bodyguard and patient relationship; he also needed to let Oz know that…He doesn't want to be nothing more than friends, even if his heart and head screamed for something so very different. It's just what a responsible adult should do, what he hoped _every_ responsible adult should do.

So now it left Gilbert wondering…Why couldn't he be younger? By at least five years?

He chuckles at his silly and completely stupid thought as he turns around in his bed and lays on his side, facing the window as he slides his legs up into a fetal position and hugs his second pillow under his chin and buries his face within the soft material.

_'__So how should I break it to Oz…?' _Gilbert asks himself as he opens his eyes once again to stare down at his pillow, as if the pillow had all the answers in the world. He rolls his eyes and closes them. Imagining himself standing in front of the blonde-teenage boy, the scenery around them would be his room, why his room, he had no idea, just a setting that popped up in his mind. Oz would be standing no further than 3 feet away, facing him with a small smile on his face and his hands behind his back, his bright blonde head tilted to the side in curiosity as he waits for an answer.

_"__What's wrong Gilbert?" _The blonde teen would ask him, innocence heard inside his voice and easily seen in his body language, but Gilbert knew well enough that the boy was not an innocent, because looks can be very deceiving when it came to the Vessalius boy.

And when Oz asks him that question, voice laced with curiosity and just a bit of concern, Gilbert opens his mouth and says…

_"__O-Oz…I-I…Wanna be…j-just friends…" _His imaginary-self replies timidly.

And instantly, Oz's once brightly illuminated aura and happy intoxicating smile, falls to a shocked expression, before it crumbles to a sad frown. And once it does, Gilbert felt his heart squeeze and shatter at the sight. He made the boy have that expression, he made Oz have that hopeless and sad look. And his heart went out to the boy.

_"__But…Why Gil…?" _Oz asks as his hands fall to his sides and quickly he averts his glistening emerald eyes down to the floor below, his blonde bangs falling over his eyes and hiding away the emotion that Gilbert desperately wanted to go away.

_"__B-because…I'm…" _Even inside his own mind, Gilbert always found himself stuttering helplessly. But that was just who he was, a nervous wreck. _"Because, I'm too old for you Oz. And if we take a step beyond friendship, and if we ever got into an argument, we just might ruin something between us, and I never want to hurt you Oz…I only want what's best for both you and I."_

Yes, that sounded good. But would he be able to say that to Oz? Would he be able to see that sad and hurt expression that he had just conjured up that Oz would most likely make? Would he honestly stand up to Oz, and risk everything, just to tell Oz something that would hurt them both in the end?

And if he doesn't, if he actually does consider his own feelings and…Possibly Oz's feelings…And take that one step beyond friendship, and stand in the middle of the relationship category, would everything work out in the end? Would he and Oz survive being together? The ridicule Oz would most likely go through from many other teenager's, the disgusted and horrified looks that he himself would mostly likely receive for being with something much younger than he was, would their relationship survive after that? And even if it does, what would happen in the end? Happiness? Or heartbreak?

One problem after another, he couldn't make a decision if that decision only ends with feelings being hurt, and hearts being crushed. If he does go along with the plan to just be friends with Oz, he knows it'll only prove to be that much more difficult to control his feelings and emotions, and what if Oz's feelings are on the same level as his own at this very moment? He couldn't imagine putting Oz through all the emotional confusion and turmoil.

And with all these thoughts suddenly occurring to him, Gilbert doesn't fully realize that his thoughts are slowly slipping away, and bordering along the lines of dreams. His chest slowly starts to rise and fall, his breathing starts to calm and slow in rhythm. Until finally, he's asleep.

_"__Gil…?"_

_Oz looks up at him, eyes glistening with un-shed tears as he stares helplessly up into Gilbert's bright golden eyes. Oz's lips are trembling, his hands are shaking at his sides, he takes a step forward, and Gilbert takes a timid step backwards as he shakes his head._

_"__I…Don't trust myself Oz…" He whispers, tightly shutting both his eyes as he curls his trembling hands into fists. "I…Might…"_

_"__Gilbert…"_

_He couldn't stop himself, but at the sudden pleading tone of Oz's voice, he opens his eyes slowly, and his breath catches inside his lungs at the sight before him, Oz is holding himself, hands and arms are wrapped around his torso as he kneels helplessly down on the white tiled floor, his eyes abnormally large with fear easily be seen inside his bright green orbs._

_And Gilbert quickly strides forward and kneels down on the floor in front of Oz. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" He desperately asks, hands searching Oz for any wounds, any bruises, anything that might've possibly harmed the boy in any way._

_But when Gilbert finds not a single wound anywhere on the boy's small 16-year-old body, he looks into Oz's eyes, and his own eyes go wide in fear when all he sees, is Oz smiling mischievously up at him as his small hands fall from their hugging positions around his own torso._

_"__I got you…" Oz states with a devious little chuckle as he all but launches himself into Gilbert's arms and tackles the older male down to the floor in a fit of laughter._

_"__O-Oz!" Gilbert shouts out in fright, hands going down to the boy's shoulders in order to push him off and away._

_But when the boy doesn't budge, Gilbert peers curiously down at the blonde-haired teenager. And his heart frantically races inside his chest when Oz peeks up at him from his chest, and with a smile so lecherous and with eyes so filled with lust, the teen timidly reaches up towards the collar of Gilbert's white dress shirt and crawls carefully up Gilbert's body, until the boy is straddled perfectly on top of his waist and begins to open the buttons of Gilbert's shirt in haste._

_"__W-wait!" Gilbert shouts desperately, hands going to his shirt to try and cease the boy's frantic button opening. "O-O-Oz! Wh-what are y-y-you—!"_

_"__I'm helping you Gilbert." Oz states seriously, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world._

_Gilbert's eyes widen in shock. "What!?" He shouts. "How!?"_

_Oz smiles down at him, and pulls his face down lower towards Gilbert's._

_Instantly Gilbert ceases all movement as his hands start to tremble slightly at the look he's receiving from the young teenage boy._

_"__I'm helping you make that decision Gil...Do you want me? Or do you need me?"_

_Gilbert's eyes widen in shock, his hands suddenly fall to his sides in incredulity. "What…?"_

_"__Do you want me? Or do you need me?" Oz repeats. "A friend? Or something more?" He asks calmly, smile placed on his face. "I only want to help you Gil, which one do you think you really deserve? Do you want me? Or do you need me?" He asks yet again._

_Gilbert reaches forward, taking the boy's face in his hands and pulls him down closer, feeling his lips moisten when he feels Oz's breath hitting against his bottom lip, his golden eyes flash up, and he blushes when Oz is already staring intently down at him, as if waiting for him to make his move._

_"__Did you make your decision Gil?" Oz smiles, eyes shining brightly as he holds Gilbert's hands in his own._

_Gilbert nods. "Yeah…I think I did…" He whispers, lips almost touching Oz's own._

_"__Do you want me?"_

_Gilbert felt himself deeply shutter when he felt Oz's lips lightly brush against his own. "No…" He whispers honestly._

_"__Do you need me?"_

_He closes his eyes in anticipation. "__Yes…" he breathes. "More than anything in the world."_

_And that's when their lips connect._

Gilbert's eyes widen in shock as he quickly lurches up in bed, heart pounding inside his ears as his breathing comes out in short desperate sounding pants, he pulls a hand over his heart to try and ease the rapid beating and thumping that is hitting hard against his chest as though his heart really wanted to burst out of his chest and fly to the wall in a desperate attempt at escaping the over-whelming _need_ to make that fantasy, that delightfully wonderful dream, come true.

He shakes his head furiously and pushes the warmth, the relief, and the _want_ down back into his stomach and head. Damn his dreams! His own thoughts aren't making the decision any less difficult!

Gilbert sighs heavily and looks towards the window, to see that the sun has just barely begun to rise. He already had slept through half of the night. And he felt as though he didn't sleep a wink. He groans quietly and slowly falls back into bed, facing the bedside coffee table to his right at his head, the clock read: 4:53 A.M.

In just two and a half hours it would be time for Gilbert to get ready for work.

He then rolls over with a defeated sounding sigh and stares up at the ceiling of his room with a dark scowl as he yawns lightly. "I need a smoke." He grumbles, throwing the thin sheet he used to cover over himself, he slides his legs over the bed and plants his feet on the cold hard wood floors. He sighs, rubs the sleep from his eyes and slowly gets up from bed, grabs his pack of smokes from the top of his dresser and shrugs on his long black trench coat to help block out and shield him from the cold wind outside. He slips on his shoes that he put neatly by the doorway of his bedroom, and tip-toes out of his room, heads down the small hallway, passes Vincent's room as quietly as he could, and walks stealthily over to the balcony doors as he tries hard not to wake his still sleeping brother as he slowly slides open the door, and timidly steps out and quietly slides the door shut behind him. Lighter in hand, smoke already hanging form his lips, he lights up his cigarette, and takes a long well deserved drag after a night of an unfortunate—and an absolutely pleasant—dream.

"Finally…" He sighs in relief.

* * *

_Oh...? What are your dreams telling you Gil?  
_

_I would like to thank all the pleasant and wonderful reviews I got from each and everyone of you guys! Thanks so much for the support in this story of mine! It really makes my day :)_

_I would also like to thank my muse for keeping me going and inspired. I feed off of your reviews._

_Also..._

_I changed quite a bit in this chapter, but stupid document manager on here fucked it up some how, and I completely forgot what it was I had just typed up. Damn my nerves and my forgetfulness._


	11. Confusion

_Ahhh...Cello...I really do love you..Anyways! I love your guys reviews! Thanks for the support on this story! So keep it up guys and I'll do my best for the next chapters mmkay pumpkin?_

* * *

Chapter 11: Confusion.

_-It's decision making time for both Oz and Gilbert. But do they both know what to do? Or say for that matter? Oz has quite an idea on what to say, but something stands in his way. Does Gilbert really only view him as an immature teenager? And if Oz's hunches are right, what exactly could he do to change Gilbert's mind?- _

September 5th, 2013.

Thursday.

Oz didn't sleep a wink that night, only because all he could think about was whether or not he should go along with the plan of making Gilbert his…Boyfriend…By going right out and say that he was too young for him, but he likes him anyways, and that he's open to whatever.

But then he couldn't stop thinking about the consequences that go right along with that plan, if they do become an item, and if they so much as got into an argument or anything, they might ruin something that makes Oz…Well, Oz.

He likes that fact that Gilbert was the one he met first, he likes that fact that Gilbert was his bodyguard, and he likes the fact that Gilbert was his best friend, so if he took a step over friendship and into a relationship, would he ruin it? For the both of them?

And Oz was also thinking about just going up to Gilbert and telling him that he just wants to be friends, just to get it over and done with so that he could go right on pretending that he felt nothing more for Gilbert than a what any best friend would feel for a best friend.

They both sounded like easy plans, but both of them were filled with fear and possible consequences. But Oz truly believed that he could survive it. He was just wondering what Gilbert's reaction could be.

As Oz continued to dress, he looks up from buttoning his dark red dress shirt, and looks towards his front door of his inpatient dorm room. He knew Gilbert was already standing outside, he could see the 24-year-olds shadow underneath the door. And he could also hear Gilbert mumbling something outside, as though he was talking to himself.

He smiles at that idea, and finishes buttoning up his dress shirt, and shrugs on his black vest, his shirt was a tad bit loose, but the vest fit him perfectly, it hugged him in all the right places, especially his hips. He rather liked his hips, but what he mostly liked about his body was his legs, they were untouched by imperfections and scars. And he would happily and proudly admit this to anyone, he shaves his legs. Yeah, he does, merely for the fact that smooth legs always felt better to the touch. Hair just grossed him out.

As he combs through his hair with his hands, he looks over to the full body mirror on the other side of his room, and smiles happily when his ensemble looked absolutely fashionable. His deep red dress shirt is what tied the whole out-fit together, the pure black vest, and the black knee length shorts, but then he looks down to his boots, and frowns at the sight of them being lace-less and un-tied. He still had no idea why he couldn't wear bracelets, necklaces, hats, shoelaces, belts, and any type of accessories at all while inside the hospital. But he figured that maybe it was because he tried to commit suicide once, and maybe they thought that he wasn't afraid to do it again given the chance.

He shakes his head at his own thoughts and strides towards the door, and with a sly smile, he presses his ear against the door, he felt a bit nosy yeah, but there was a part of him that wasn't at all concerned, it was Gilbert after all, he could be worrying about anything and everything at once. He _is_ a panicky person after all.

"What should I do…?" Oz hears Gilbert mutter to himself, the 24-year-old sounded troubled.

As though he was sharing the same thoughts that Oz had just gone through, the blonde-teen shook his head at the idea, it was just no way. Gilbert probably didn't see him than nothing more than a 16-year-old that needed to be babysat.

"What if he runs away?" Oz hears Gilbert state to himself once again, and he frowns at that sudden odd sentence.

Gilbert really _does_ make him sound like an immature child. But why would he run away from Gilbert? Unless the security guard wanted to play tag then yeah, he would run.

Pulling his ear away from the door, he shakes his head wildly about. _'Am I an immature child? Is that how Gilbert sees me as?' _His thoughts scream frantically inside his head. He _was_ caught by the security guard playing in the flower beds with Alice; he _does_ pull pranks on Gil on daily basis, only for a laugh yeah. But it was still pretty immature…Maybe it was those things that probably made Gilbert view him as a child…Or maybe…It was something else…

_'What if it's the way I dress…?' _Oz suddenly thought as he looks back over his shoulder towards the body length mirror on the other side of the room. His choice in clothing does seem a bit…_Out there_ then what any normal human being would wear, but that's just his fashion sense; the clothes he's wearing now are comfortable for him. It's what gives him confidence.

_'Then what is it about me that Gilbert finds immature…?' _Oz states to himself. He really didn't know why he suddenly feared what Gilbert thought of him, he _was_ 16, maybe that's why Oz was feeling so defensive about this situation. But the thought of Gilbert looking at him as though he was merely a child, made him unusually angry.

Suddenly Oz couldn't take the negative thoughts swirling around his own brain and he flung the door open wide. Revealing a pacing Gil on the other side, who instantly ceases his frantic movements and halts right in front of the door with a nervous expression on his face. And right away, Oz feared that Gilbert was thinking exactly how he was just thinking just seconds ago. Gilbert really _did_ view him as an immature teenager.

And that's why Oz glares at Gilbert intently, his emerald eyes narrow up at Gilbert's surprised looking eyes and he abruptly turns his head away. "Good morning." He deadpans emotionlessly as he begins striding down the hallway. Oz wanted to shake his head and apologize for the tone of his voice—which was harsh and laced with anger—right after he just said it.

_'If Gilbert doesn't think of me as a child, he certainly will now by the way I'm acting…' _Oz thought, he just couldn't do anything right…

"G-good morning…Oz…" Gilbert replies nervously. Did Oz just glare at him? Was it his pacing that got him agitated? Did he annoy him? Gilbert quickly takes Oz's side in the hallway and clears his throat. "H-how did you sleep?" Gilbert tries for a casual carefree conversation.

Oz rolls his eyes. _'Really? Small talk? Does he seriously think I'm that immature to not have a decent and civilized conversation?' _Oz silently growls under his breath at that thought and quickly he tilts his head up in confidence. "I slept well. A bit of tossing and turning but that's only because I was hot and uncomfortable." That was a big fat lie, but he didn't want to tell Gilbert that he actually stayed up all night thinking about him. So instead he glances over his shoulder and up at Gilbert. "And how did you sleep Gilbert?" Oz asks calmly.

Gilbert really didn't understand why Oz kept glaring at him, maybe he _did_ annoy him with his pacing, maybe Oz thought that he was telling him to hurry with his pacing? Well that wasn't good.

Gilbert clears his throat and sighs heavily, trying to put on an air of confidence that Oz always carried with him. "I slept fine. Woke up a bit too early though and couldn't go back to sleep after that." He admits with a light chuckle.

"That's too bad." Oz replies. Taking longer strides down the hallway and down the stairs, hearing the footsteps of Gilbert not too far behind him.

They fall into uncomfortable silence after they both realize that small talk, isn't really all that entertaining. They both felt the need to break the silence, but with the way Oz seemed so nonchalant, Gilbert just couldn't break the silence. The awkward silence was the exact opposite of what they are usually accustomed to when being with each other.

So it left Oz wondering…Did he say something to Gilbert last night that made him feel more uncomfortable than usual? Maybe he does speak his mind too much, but that's only because he felt the need to let Gilbert know exactly what he was thinking and feeling. But still…It left Oz with more questions because of it.

_'So then WHY did I feel something last night? Was it only me…?' _Oz thought, wanting to desperately turn around and smack Gilbert, just for the sake of him sending him mixed signals. But that would make him look more like an immature child.

"O-Oz?" Gilbert squeaks from behind Oz. He noticed that the teen had stopped striding and was now taking slower steps down the stairs, as though he was about to fall down the stairs, or just sit down and give up with the menial task.

Oz whips his head over his shoulder and narrows his eyes at Gilbert. "Yes?" He answers, his voice serious.

Gilbert didn't like that tone of voice at all, it just wasn't Oz, what was troubling him? Was it because of last night? Was he the one reading the signals wrong?

Gil wrings his hands together and looks away from the blonde. "N-nothing…I thought…You were getting tired of walking down the stairs." He replies, inwardly hitting himself upside the head for sounding like a complete idiot.

"I am tired." Oz states bluntly. "You won't carry me though, would you?" He suggests, stopping in front of Gil with a curious head tilt.

Gilbert blushes at the image, and shakes his head. As much as he liked the idea, he just couldn't. He _could_. But he decided that in order for his plan to succeed, touching Oz was out of the question. "I'll trip, I don't trust myself." He lies.

That was merely a test, and Oz didn't like the answer, usually Gilbert would scowl at him, at the idea of it all and quickly answer with a serious "no". But Gilbert this time, merely shook his head and quickly looked away. As though he was embarrassed at such a thought. Gilbert should be used to his teasing by now, but was that such a good thing? Maybe all this teasing, made Gilbert view him as such a child?

Glaring down at the stairs as though it was the stairs fault for everything, he quickly turns around and practically runs down the stairs. "Fine." He states over his shoulder before he left.

Gilbert stands further behind him, watching as Oz quickly bounces down the steps to further the distance between them. Something was obviously troubling Oz, was it him? He just didn't understand the teenager at all!

With a heavy sigh, Gilbert finally walks down the steps and shoves both his hands in his pockets, but just as he was about to take the last step, he instantly freezes and holds his hands out straight, for many days—practically weeks, Oz would run down the stairs and wait for him at the bottom, just for the fact that the blonde wanted to trip him on his last step—which he succeeded in doing for many days now—but when Gilbert takes his last step, and expected to be falling by now and be teased up and down the walls by Oz saying how he was "so predictable" and so "clumsy". He's met with nothing, no Oz lingering around the corner with a mischievous expression, no rope around his ankles, and no new bruises on his elbows and knees. Instead, he's met with Oz staring at him with a serious expression and accusatory eyes.

"What took you so long?" Oz states, turning back around and heading towards the front doors of the dorm building.

Gilbert wrinkles his brow in confusion. Oz usually pranked him first thing in the morning, Oz usually greets him with a bright smile on top of that, and Oz usually waits for him with patience. But now, it was the exact opposite. _'What is wrong with him…? I can't help but feel like it's all my fault. Even though I did nothing wrong…' _Gilbert thought, striding down the hallway to quickly take Oz's side before he left him completely. _'Did I do something wrong…?'_

* * *

3:00

It was now time for the patients to write inside their journals, and as Oz did on many occasions, he makes a beeline down the hallways to his usual sitting spot inside the hospital. With his love-seat just in sight, he could already feel the sunlight that streamed in through the opened window, warm his skin. Oz takes quicker steps, until he's standing just in front of the love-seat with his journal in hand, he sighs at the sight of rain clouds overhead instead of the sun, but he shrugs it off. It can't be sunny every day. As he sits down in his usual spot at the side of the couch, he gets himself comfortable.

And as usual, Gilbert is just a few steps behind him.

But for once, Gilbert is not saying a word, and keeping his distance away from him. Which was a bad sign…But maybe it was better this way? Maybe this is how Gilbert wanted it to be? Without an immature nuisance annoying him all day?

Oz felt his face fall to a sad frown as he stares hopelessly lost at his journal, which wasn't even opened yet on his lap but left closed and seemingly untouched. Was it truly only him who felt something between them? Was he the one reading all the signs and signals wrong? Did he make himself look completely easy in the eyes of Gilbert ever since they first met? He wasn't practically throwing himself at Gilbert's feet, but he did feel like a fool now. Maybe it was just him…Oz shakes his head and hangs his head in between his knees; he didn't want to talk right now, especially with Gilbert. Not when he just finally realizes that he's been making a fool out of himself, thinking that maybe Gilbert felt the same way about him. God, did he feel like an idiot.

"Oz…Are you okay…?" He hears Gilbert ask, concern easily detectable in his tone.

And oh, how Oz wanted to just grab Gilbert and hug the life out of him for that completely pitiful sounding tone of voice.

But instead of listening to that thought, he sighs heavily and shakes his head. "No…" Oz answers truthfully.

Gilbert blinks in surprise; he didn't actually think he would get an answer out of the teen. Hell, he didn't think Oz was still listening to him. He thought he was going to be ignored all day…Well, technically he _was_ ignored all day by the blonde-haired teenager. So with Oz answering him, he already felt a lot better and just a tad bit relieved.

Gil worries his lip with his teeth, should he push it and ask if he can take a seat next to Oz? Or should he just stand for the time being and try for more small talk? Small talk didn't go anywhere today, and he really liked the fact that Oz just answered a question that he asked. So maybe Oz this morning felt like he needed some distance, some time to himself for the day. But being ignored all day by Oz was torture for Gilbert. He really wanted to talk to Oz, about anything at all. As long as Oz talked to him, if Oz can just look at him, he would feel a hundred times better.

"Can I…Sit with you…?" Gilbert asks timidly, already regretting asking his question. He didn't want to scare Oz away so soon, not when he was finally speaking to him.

"Go ahead." Oz replies, his face still tucked within his propped up knees, he was a bit surprised that Gilbert would willingly want to sit beside him after ignoring him all day and keeping his distance from him. But then again, maybe Gil was just tired. He did say he woke up early that morning.

Gilbert quickly nods his head and carefully, quietly, takes timid steps towards the loveseat, and finally sits down on the opposite side of the couch next to Oz, making sure to leave enough space between them as much as possible, but with the way the loveseat was made, it made it virtualy impossible, if Gilbert so much as pivoted to the left, his hip would be touching Oz's booted feet, so squirming more to the side and practically digging his hip into the armrest of the couch, Gilbert made sure that nothing was touching Oz.

The atmosphere around them is uncomfortable, as it had been all day. But this time, Gilbert felt the need to break the silence. Not with small talk either, he really wanted to know what was wrong with Oz. He's been quiet all day. It was starting to worry him.

"Oz is something…Wrong…?" Gilbert finally asks after five minutes of silence. _'Did I do something wrong, Oz?'_

Oz shakes his head. But then nods soon after. "I don't know…" Oz answers, he didn't know what to say, should he just tell Gilbert how he felt? Should he ask Gilbert if he only viewed him as a child? Both of those conversations are too private, too strong with emotion…And Oz didn't know how to control his emotions. They spiral out of control. The mere thought of it made him dizzy.

"Do you…Wanna…Talk? Or do you…" Gilbert didn't know what to say, he wanted Oz to talk to him about his problems, but from what happened yesterday, maybe Oz was the type of person to not talk about his feelings? Gilbert really didn't like that idea, but maybe it was true.

Oz finally peels his face away from his bare knees to stare hopelessly up at Gilbert's concerned golden eyes. "Gilbert, for the longest time now, I—"

"—Good afternooooon kiddiiiiies!"

Both Gilbert and Oz groan aloud in disdain.

Break pouts and crosses his arms over his chest. "I just made my appearance! And already you two can't stand me!" Break whines as he falls to the floor and folds his legs together. "Why so sullen Oz?" Break asks with a smile, easily reading the teenager's uncomfortable body language, did he interrupt something private? Oh, how _juicy_.

Oz narrows his eyes down at the odd therapist sitting in the middle of the floor and quirks an eyebrow. "Don't sound so happy…" He replies sardonically.

Break waves the remark away with a hand as he rolls on the floor and onto his stomach as he kicks his legs in the air. "And Gilbert, why do you look so lost? Trouble in paradise you two?" He asks, chuckling lightly at the annoyed and frustrated expressions of the two.

"Shouldn't you be…I don't know…Working?" Gilbert deadpans, folding his leg over the other as he crosses his arms over his stomach.

Break pouts. "Why are you two so meeeeean todaaaaay?" Break complains, kicking his legs wildly about behind him as he gesticulates madly in the air with his long sleeves covered over his hands.

"I need to use the bathroom." Oz suddenly announces to Break and Gilbert as he rises up from the couch, but before he leaves, he turns and smiles small over his shoulder at Gil. "I'll be back, okay?" He states quietly.

But Break catches the hushed words easily, and couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at the statement; he so obviously _did_ interrupt something.

Gilbert nods his head and sits upright on the couch. "I can go with—"

"—No, I'm fine. I'll be back soon anyways." Oz states with a smile, finally turning around to step over Break and walks down the hallway without a second glance back.

Gilbert watches Oz leave, and when the blonde-haired boy was out of view, he sighs heavily in frustration. Today just wasn't the day to bring up the whole, friendship, relationship, dilemma that they were in. It just wasn't his day at all come to think of it.

Break finally gets up from the floor, not before patting down his pants, and walks over to the love-seat to plop himself down on the other side of the couch. "So? What's the matter between you and Oz? He sure seemed…Troubled." Break comments, quirking an eyebrow towards Gil, who only looks away guiltily.

Now interested because of that reaction, Break smirks and leans back on the armrest behind him. "What did Gil do now?" Break sighs dramatically.

Gilbert bristles. "I didn't do anything!" He hisses. "He just…Didn't have a good sleep, that's all. Maybe he's stressed out about the hospital." Gilbert states, but then shakes his head, his wild black hair flipping about with the movement. "And besides, he barely managed to let his sister, Ada, leave yesterday…Maybe he's homesick as well…?" Gilbert suggests, mostly to himself as a way to make himself feel better.

But Gil knew better than to think that those were the reasons why Oz was so…Distant today. Maybe it was a few of those things, but he had a feeling that something else was up with Oz.

Break hums lightly at the suggestion, and tilts his head to the side, his pure white banes falling over the side of his face. "But what do you think is the problem with Oz?"

Gilbert wrinkles his brow in confusion, before his eyes fall to the floor with a sad sigh escaping his lips. "Maybe…It's me…." He answers truthfully.

"And why would you think it's you?" Break asks quickly.

"Because…Recently I've been…" Gilbert quickly shuts his mouth after that, finally noticing that he's been talking much too openly and freely with Break as though they were the best of friends in the world. What Gilbert was about to say was that he's been developing feelings for Oz for quite a while now, and if he had just said that, and with Break being his higher up and all, then surely, he would be fired on the spot for even attempting on having a relationship with a patient.

So with a deep intake of air, Gilbert lies. "I've been thinking about…How you should let Oz out this coming Saturday. To visit his sister or something. I can escort him as well, if you do let him out that is." Gilbert replies.

Break frowns, that wasn't what Gilbert was going to say, but he wasn't about to push, it's better for the client to realize their problems, without the help of the therapist pushing for answers to his questions.

So instead, with a bright smile, he quickly gets up from the loveseat. "That's a great idea Gil! I'll go write out the release forums now. Just for a day yes?"

Gilbert quickly nods his head with surprise. "U-uh, yeah! He would like that."

"Great! Come see me once Oz returns from the bathroom! Tah-tah!" Break waves his good bye and merrily skips down the hall.

Not ten seconds later. Gilbert hears Break's annoying voice shouting down the hall.

"Sharon-chaaan!"

"Aah! Break! Don't sneak up on me!" Gilbert hears the strawberry-blonde nurse, Sharon Rainsworth, squeak from further down the hall.

Gilbert rolls his eyes at the Japanese honorific Break was so accustomed to using for Sharon. He heard that Sharon always wanted to travel to Japan, but he hadn't expected that Break knew about this as well, and thus, Break always used the honorific "Chan" for Sharon.

"Well that was easy…" Gilbert whispers to himself. He hadn't actually thought Break would go along with that idea, but now that he did, he could tell Oz the great news and he would be able to see Oz smiling soon once again. _'I hope he comes back soon…It's already 15 after 3.' _Gilbert thought, checking his wrist watch before sliding more comfortably on the couch.

* * *

Inside the bathroom stall located further in the back of the hospital, Oz stood with his hands on either side of the sink, facing the mirror. With a deep exhale of breath, he stares at the stranger in the reflection.

"Where in the world do you belong?" Oz asks the stranger staring right back at him. His emerald eyes unseeing and unemotional, his hair askew and messy, his skin pale, his lips rosy, if Oz didn't know any better, he would say he was getting sick.

"Like…Love sick?" Oz states, he shakes his head fast before he buries his face in the water that filled the sink below him. He runs his hands through the water and splashes it over his face, then runs his wet hands through his messy hair to comb it back. As he rises out of the sink, he pulls the plug and drains the cool water.

"Here you go."

"Thank you." Oz thanks as he grabs the towel out from the outstretched hand behind him. As he rubs his face, he screams in fright and spins fast on his heel to face the culprit that snuck up behind him.

And he's face with the familiar face of Vincent Nightray, who was smiling right at him with his head tilted to the side with innocence. "I didn't mean to scare you Oz." He announces politely.

"Geez Vincent…" Oz mutters, small smile on his face. "You really did scare me…Thank you for the towel though." He thanks with a grin as he wipes the last few drops away from his chin, then he quirks an eyebrow up at the long blonde-haired man standing before him. "What are you doing in here? Did you need to get to the sink?" Oz asks, quickly taking a step to the side to make room for Vincent, he hadn't even heard him come in, nor did he see him pass by.

Vincent only shakes his head with a light chuckle. "No, I was just…Hiding from the nurses." Vincent replies, sighing lightly under his breath before looking back to Oz with a small smile. "They aren't allowed to step in through the boy's bathroom." He informs Oz who had raised an eyebrow up at him in question. "And it's a good thing they don't have male nurses, or else hiding in the bathrooms would be futile." He chuckles lightly once again.

Oz merely smiles at the little tid-bit of information. "So where are you heading off to?" He asks casually as he leans against the sink behind him.

Vincent shrugs a shoulder—making the movement seem flawless in Oz's eyes—as he runs a hand through his hair with a huff. "I don't know actually, I wanted to go to the library, but many of the nurses are probably already in there waiting for my arrival."

"Ah. I see." Oz says with a nod of his head. "You can come with me to the loveseat." He suggests with a smile.

He and Vincent have spent most of their journaling days together, talking about various things and the possibility of when he and Vincent could get together some time to just hang out, so Vincent knew perfectly well what Oz was talking about when he suggested "the loveseat".

"It's only me and Gilbert there anyways…And…I would really like the company right now." Oz mutters quietly.

Vincent could barely hear the last of Oz's sentence when he lowered his voice to almost a whisper. But when the words finally registered in his head, he couldn't help but lift a delicate eyebrow at the suggestion. "But you said Gil was with you, don't you two usually talk?"

_'Unless they have already begun arguing?' _Vincent thought with hope seeping in through his body.

Oz shrugs as he looks down to the floor. "I…I've come to the conclusion that Gilbert merely looks are me like I'm an immature child, so I've been ignoring him today…I guess that doesn't help at all huh?" He states with a disheartened smile.

Vincent shakes his head. "No, that doesn't help prove the point that you're mature." Vincent declares. He takes a few steps forward to stand directly in front of Oz with a smirk plastered across his face. "But want to know the secret on how to prove to someone that you have matured?"

Oz's eyes light up with hope easily detectable in his expression as he quickly nods his head vigorously. "Oh yes! I would like to know the secret!" He exclaims excitedly as he leans his head further towards Vincent.

Vincent hides away his sadistic smile behind a cheerful mask as he leans down closer towards the blonde-haired teenager. "Well, all you have to do is test him."

Oz wrinkles his brow in confusion. "How would I do that?" He whispers.

Vincent smiles joyfully. "You prove to him that you can be happy, and _safe_, without him being at your side."

"That's hard." Oz declares, sighing heavily. "Especially since he's my bodyguard." He mutters in derision.

Vincent shakes his head with a sad sigh. "Ah yes, I forgot he was your assigned body guard…" He states, humming under his breath, until he flicks a finger in the air with a look of realization dawning on his handsome features. "But I think I got the solution." Vincent states happily.

Oz grins widely and claps his hand together with joy. "What do you have in mind Vincent?" He asks excitedly.

Vincent lowers his upper body closer towards the blonde teen—despising himself all the more—as he gently brushes his knuckles across the soft skin of Oz's cheek with a smirk.

Oz instantly flinches at the soft caress as his face breaks out in a light blush. No one showed this type of…Intimacy towards him, his body felt light as well as his head, when Vincent then lightly stroked the bottom of his lip by a gentle brush of his thumb, his shivered and stared wide eyed up at Vincent. Even Gilbert never touched him this way, the mere thought of it probably made Gil uncomfortable. So why was Vincent showing this side of familiarity with him when he and Gilbert knew each other much better than he and Vincent knew each other?

"Why not come back with me to the library? So you can show him that you do not need him at your side at all times…Just to make him see that you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself…?" Vincent states, quickly backing up from the blushing blonde with a soft smile on his lips.

Oz runs his tongue over his bottom lip as he averts his nervous gaze to the floor. Vincent sure is smart. And handsome at that…He had charisma, and an air about him that made Oz feel…Well…Special, and _mature_. Vincent was the one who lifted his spirits. Vincent was the one that came to him in a time of need and wasn't afraid to speak his mind at all, unlike his elder brother, who was more timid with him than Vincent was. Not only that but…Vincent was being so nice to him, sure Gilbert was always kind to him, and he was nice…When he wanted to be, some days Gil could be such a grouch. But Vincent, he just had this charm about him. And no one showed this type of intimacy with him, no one ever showed Oz what it felt like to feel so…Shy, but confident all at the same time.

And his father…His father was never nice to him. But Vincent is always nice to him…And the way he's looking at him now, made Oz wonder what else Vincent was capable of showing him.

So Oz found no flaw in Vincent's plan. It was brilliant.

So with a bright smile flitting across his features, Oz looks back up and nods his head. "I would like to." He agrees as he turns back around to lay the towel down on the dry rim of the sink. But before he turned back around, Oz stood in front of the mirror and smiled back at his reflection. _'You have great people surrounding you Oz, the least you could do is smile.' _He told himself, as he ran his hands through his hair and untangled that knots he himself made while sweeping his hair back with his damp hands.

Behind him, Vincent stood with a soft smile on his face, but inside, behind his mask, was the sadistic and eager smile of a predator. _'This boy…Is much too easy to manipulate…Such damage has been inflicted on him, both emotionally and physically…So what else is he capable of showing me? What else would he be willing to prove for me?' _He couldn't help it, but he ran his tongue over his lips at the thought. He had many woman, and men, bed with him. And they were much too easy, why so _easy_, he merely had to smile at the whores of both genders, and they would fall at his feet and were willing to do anything for him if he merely beckoned or called. But this boy, he had a feeling that this boy would be more of a challenge. And that to Vincent, made him want to stay, to heal, to mold and bend this boy to his will, and build him up, just so he can have the satisfaction of watching him fall and crumble to the ground into a pile of nothing at his feet.

Vincent soon blinks out of his morbid thoughts once he realizes that he's been staring into the mirror and looking straight at Oz the entire time the boy was fixing and combing his hair with his hands. And when he focuses his attention more accurately, the boy, Oz, looks at the exact same time and locks eyes with him. And Vincent felt a shiver run through his body when he notices just how bright green, and how…Vulnerable the boy's eyes seemed to look. As though the boy truly believed that there was no good left in the world, and that everything around him, was caving in. The boy was proving to be quite entertaining to look at.

* * *

_"Afraid" Was the song that inspired me for this chapter by "The Neighbourhood" Seriously guys, listen to this song while you read this and have it on repeat...Well whatever you guys prefer. But sorry for the wait guys, usually i update daily but now that I'm done work, you might have to wait for a while now...I'm sorry! I love you guys though! Hope you like this chapter!_


	12. Lies

_Hello my lovelies~  
I know what your thinking..."Took you long enough" and yes, I know, that was a long wait and i'm sorry!_

* * *

Chapter 12: Lies.

_-With Vincent showing a side that even Oz has never bore witness to in anyone before, what will he do? And how will Gilbert react to this if he finds out?-_

3:30 P.M

Oz still wasn't back.

And that made Gilbert nervous, and slightly worried. Why was Oz taking so long? Was he goofing off somewhere just so he didn't have to write in his journal? That wasn't like Oz at all. If he was given a task to do, then Oz would try his hardest to succeed in the task, not run away from it.

Not only that, but the blonde seemed very adamant in listening to Sharon's instructions, the rules, and the punishments that come with being late for group activities and therapy sessions.

_'__So then why is he taking long?' _Asked a little voice in the back of Gilbert's head, that made him get up from the couch and grab Oz's journal in haste.

"I'm going." He announced to no one in particular as he slid away from the couch and walked down the halls.

Heading to the nearest rest room.

But as he made it to the rest room and called for Oz from the doorway, and heard not a single person inside, he moved onto the next one. Which rest room would Oz go to?

* * *

Inside the library, with Vincent sitting next to him inside a small couch—that looked so much like his love-seat back in the little corner of the hospital—Oz looks back up towards the window and notices that the rain has begun to fall, when he saw little trickles of water pouring down the glass, he then smiles lightly when he hears the faint sound of rumbling thunder in the distance.

"I rather like the rain." Oz voices aloud as he lays his head back on the arm rest of the couch and slides one leg, his left leg, off of the couch as he props his right leg on the back rest of the black leather couch. When he flicks his eyes over to Vincent, who is sitting not too far away from his booted feet, he notices just how bright blonde the man's hair seemed to look. And that's when Vincent tilts his head up and rests the back of his head on the couch, letting his long hair fall and spread across the head rest.

The couch is what made Vincent's hair stand out so vibrantly, so bright in color and looking so absolutely perfect to touch and run his fingers through. Oz had to blink away those thoughts…Running his fingers through someone else's hair was out of the question—especially since this was Ada's _boyfriend_ he was picturing and fantasizing about.

Oz hadn't really hadn't given much thought to Ada before, especially when Oz was in the rest room, with Vincent whispering so close in his face and running his hands over his cheeks and lips, he finally realizes that he didn't think about Ada at all during that time. He was only thinking about the fact that it was only _him_ and _Vincent_. Alone together.

And that was bad.

Wasn't there someone else to fantasize and blush over?

Yes there was. Gilbert.

Vincent's older brother.

This was Vincent after all, Ada's boyfriend, and Gilbert's younger brother Oz was thinking about. And it was wrong on so many levels—especially because Oz was attracted to Gilbert, Oz had a crush on _Gilbert_. And _not_ Vincent.

So he shouldn't be thinking about someone else right now, but focusing his attention on the person that he actually had feelings for.

But…

Vincent was the only one who took the time to give him some helpful advice and some few encouraging words, and Vincent was the one who made him feel—and as corny and as cheesy as this sounds but—_special_, he also felt wanted.

But those feelings were wrong to have, especially since this was your sister's boyfriend you're thinking about. And your crushes younger brother.

_'__I'm directing my attention on someone else…And that is bad…But it feels so…what's the word?' _Oz thought, wrinkling his brow in confusion. _'Tempting...? No...Scandalous?'_

"What's with the look Oz?"

Oz blinks out of his thoughts and flicks his eyes back to Vincent's expression, seeing him smile right at him with amusement sparkling in his beautiful mix-matched eyes. His eyes truly are beautiful, and so unique.

Oz smiles right back at Vincent and shakes his head. "I guess I'm over thinking things again." He admits, shrugging his shoulders.

Vincent nods his head. "I tended to do that myself when I was your age. But your much more mature than what Gilbert gives you credit for."

Oz's heart starts to hammer inside his chest when he feels Vincent's hand ghosting its way up the skin of his shin and all the up the knee. And being the perfect gentleman that Oz knew Vincent was, his hand stays on his knee and does not go anywhere further up.

Vincent gives Oz a sideways smirk as he drums his fingers over Oz's knee. "You see? Not once did you lash out or demand that I take my hands away. Composing yourself, and thinking logically is what makes you mature Oz. And if my older brother doesn't see that, then what exactly does he see you as?"

Oz quickly shoots his eyes guiltily to the floor as he worries his lip in between his teeth, what _does_ Gilbert think of him as? What _does_ Gilbert see him as?

"But don't worry Oz." Vincent pipes up, his voice light and cheery.

Oz looks back over to Vincent with hopeful eyes.

"My brother has always been the slow one. But once he realizes that standing before him, is a mature adult, he will start treating you how you deserve to be treated. So don't fret." Vincent remarks, shaking Oz's leg with a smile.

Oz gently smiles as he looks back up to the rain, and watches it as it hits against the window in small and very faint taping sounds. "I hope so. He really is a good guy. He's also my best friend…So I'm hoping he stops treating me like a child…" Oz whispers lightly as he raises his hand over his head, and imagines himself reaching for the hand of Gilbert. If Gilbert could float, Oz imagined that Gilbert wouldn't stray too far away from his side. Only because he was that good of a body guard to him…And not only that, but the thought of a floating Gil made Oz chuckle under his breath, because most likely, the body guard would look completely terrified if he _did_ start floating in mid-air and he would then demand that someone help him down as he starts to get teary eyed. Now that was a pleasant thought, a teary eyed Gil. So adorable.

Oz sits up with a lurch as he smiles brightly at Vincent, who looks back to him with a quirked eyebrow. "Thank you so much for the advice Vincent. I think I'll find Gilbert now." He announces as he slides his legs over the couch and plants his boots onto the floor, but before he leaves, he turns around with a grin and waves back to Vincent. "I'll see you later!" He states jovially as he starts to jog out of the reading area of the library, which was situated in the very back of the library, hidden away between four book shelves, he jumps pass a stack of books and nearly bangs his nose into someone's chest as he rounds a sharp left hand corner.

"Wah!"

"Geez!"

Both surprised individuals state in unison, and once they do, they both look at one another in surprise.

"Oz?" Gilbert wrinkles his brow in confusion.

"Gil!" Oz states in surprise, before he schools his expression and smiles up at his bodyguard. "W'sup? Are you looking for me?" He asks with a curious head tilt.

Gilbert scowls down at him and puts both his hands on his hips, trying to look intimidating.

Only succeeding in looking like a scolding Sharon Rainworth with the way he stood in front of Oz.

"Damn right I was looking for you! It's passed 3:30!" He states, frowning down at the boy, who merely looks down to his shoes as he glances over his shoulder with worried eyes.

Looking as though he wanted to say something, or he's looking for help of some kind.

_'__Was there someone else with him? Is that why he skipped?' _Gilbert thought, brow wrinkling in displeasure at the thought, who exactly could Oz be hanging out with, without himself knowing?

"I was…" Oz trails off, not knowing whether to say that he was with Vincent, or lie and merely say that he wanted to see the rain fall and rest in the library. Both were the truth, to a certain extent…But if Oz told the security guard that he was with Vincent, his brother, would Gilbert suspect something else…?

Oz shakes his head and smiles brightly up at his bodyguard, that was the last thing Oz wanted, was for Gilbert to suspect that he was going and fooling around with Vincent on the sly. And he definitely didn't want to argue either. "I was looking for my favorite novel series…I guess I got too excited after reading the latest novel yesterday, that I tried reading the other one today but…I lost track of time." Oz lies, putting his head down as he worries his lip between his teeth. Would Gil know he was lying? Would he suspect him?

Gilbert cocks an eyebrow down at the nervous looking teenager and crosses his arms firmly over his chest. Oz was behaving…Well to be frank, weird. Nervous in a way that it seemed very suspicious, as though he was doing something behind his back, something that needed investigating, but Gilbert would be damned if he ever questioned Oz about it, he was finally standing in front of Oz, without Oz arguing and glaring at him every chance he got.

He didn't want Oz glaring at him again. Not when he was finally acting a little more like himself at the moment.

So with a long exhale of frustrated breath, he drops his crossing arms to his sides as he scratches at the side of his face. "Fine. Whatever." Gilbert states, looking away, and failing to notice the relieved expression on Oz. "But don't run off like that again. I was looking everywhere for you." The security guard quickly looks back down to Oz, then plucks two of his fingers into Oz's sleeve and urges him forward. "Let's go." He states, smiling small down at the blonde-haired boy as he takes his hand away, turns, and walks ahead.

Oz smiles happily as he quickly takes Gilbert's side inside the library, "What's after this Gil?"

"Expressive Therapy."

"Awww!" Oz whines, "I don't like that session! All I have to do is sit there, and do nothing at all for a good half an hour, as I listen to other people do all the talking! I'm literally dying in that class!"

"Too bad. You're going. It's part of your rehabilitation process."

"Yeah, yeah…But I'm not dependent on drugs! So why am I still here?"

"I don't know! Ask Break that!" Gilbert shouts, finally losing his patience with the whining brat.

Still sitting in the spot where Oz has left him, Vincent relaxes into the cushions of the couch further and groans lightly under his breath as his back cracks in several places as soon as he stretches out on the small love-seat in the corner of the library, which was situated further in the back and hidden away from prying eyes by the help of four large book cases stacked on every side of the comfortable reading area.

Oz was proving to be quite entertaining, Oz was much too manipulative, easy, and so vulnerable that it was laughable. The boy must've went through hell when he was growing up, what kinds of conditions the boy has suffered through, only God knows what, and Vincent merely shrugged at this thought. Nothing could've been worse than what he and his brother were forced to endure, the boy wouldn't even be alive if he had gone through what Gilbert and himself had gone through, so there was absolutely no sympathy from Vincent.

But then a thought occurred to him, was Oz more damaged than what Vincent had in mind? If so, than that would put a strain on his plans, it would take a lot more one-on-one time with Oz, for the blonde boy to be able to trust and open up to him.

But then again, if Oz wasn't at all severely mentally damaged as Vincent thought he was, then it would only take Vincent a couple more pep talks and few more encouraging words with Oz, that would make the boy trust him completely. Then his plan could fully commence after that.

As Vincent lays his blonde head down on the arm rest of the couch, and with his chin slightly propped up, he flicks his eyes over to where he thought he saw movement in the corner of the bookshelf, he saw a fleeting figure, and a dark shadow from the other side, most likely, someone was being nosy and peeking in through the crevice of the bookshelves.

_'__The person isn't at all trying to be discreet. They're intentionally trying to get my attention.' _Vincent states inside his head with a passionate roll of his eyes.

"Show yourself." Vincent states easily, narrowing his eyes when the see's the figure flicker in front of the crevice of the bookshelves. "I see you every time I am here…Its beginning to make me wonder, who could possibly be stalking me?"

"Please." Scoffs a voice from the other side, and sure enough, when out he steps from around the corner, to stand with his hip cocked to the side and a hand propped up on the bookshelf beside him, Vincent knew instantly who it was by the mere sound of his disgusted sounding tone of voice.

Xerxes Break stood with a displeased look on his facial expression as he leans further onto the bookshelf. His bright white banes falling over one side of his face, as his piercing red eye bore a hole into Vincent's skull. "I would never stoop so low as to stalk someone of your caliber; I'd rather allow my right eye to plucked out from its socket."

"I can arrange that if you like." Vincent states with a chilling smile. "Or I could do it myself."

Break quirks an eyebrow as he steps into the reading area, ignoring that little remark with ease, Vincent was always such a drama queen, "What are you doing with Oz?" Break questions, getting straight down to the point.

Vincent was next to cock a delicate eyebrow up at the therapist and or Doctor, as he rolls over and lays on his back. "Whatever do you mean? You make me sound as though—"

"—you're using him for your own personal gain?" Break interjects, and when he turns his suspicious gleaming eye over to Vincent, never in his life has he ever felt a glare so malicious or damning in his many years of counselling and treating patients.

He felt a shiver run down his spine with the glare he's receiving from Vincent, but with the way he stood, with his head held high in confidence and with an air of authority surrounding him, he takes two precious steps forward and bends down to hover over Vincent's glaring face, with a smile of his own.

"Did I hit a nerve Vincent Nightray?" Break states with a smile.

"I'm not doing anything to him." Vincent practically spits in Break's face. "I'm _listening_ to him. Something that no one has ever gave him the pleasure of receiving." Vincent states, scowling expression turned upwards and into Break's smiling expression above.

Break tilts his head to the side and smirks down at Vincent below him. "I'm hearing anger, but with a hint of dramatics, you're lying to me Vincent Nightray. I don't know what you're trying to gain out of Oz Vesslius, but as long as Gilbert is around him. Your plan will never succeed. And as long as I am around, leave the counselling to me. You'll only corrupt Oz." Break declares, he shoots Vincent one last joyful smile, before he turns and heads off into the direction of his office, his back tense and his shoulders aching, his scowl was etched perfectly on his pale featured face.

How he hated dealing with the likes of Vincent Nightray, merely for the fact that he was exactly like Oz, only more dangerous, annoying, and so very cunning. Vincent would stoop to many lows, just to achieve something, just to make his scheming plans a success, and that to Break, was dirty. He was a rat in sheep's clothing.

And never before had Break felt the need to protect another.

Oz was his patient, his most troublesome and challenging patient he ever had, and if Break was going to help him, he was going to give it his all to help Oz and treat his problems, and if someone, anyone, ever got in his way of achieving those goals, hell was to be paid.

And Vincent Nightray was a troublesome character indeed.

A worthy opponent, but just what was it that Vincent was scheming _now?_ What more could the man possibly want? To manipulate? To break?

Oz was his patient, and Break would be God_damned_ if someone was to ever hinder his project.

_'__I mustn't tell Gilbert that Vincent is now scheming, that would cause trouble for both Oz and Gilbert, only because Gilbert would be too busy trying to subdue and control his brother, that he wouldn't keep an eye on Oz as often as his job requires him to do. And that would look bad on his part as Oz's bodyguard, I can't tell Oz about Vincent's plans either, I cannot get involved in a patient's life, more-so than I already am and what is completely necessary. It's questionable…But no one said that I can't be a friend to a patient.' _Break thought, a frown easing its way across his pale featured face as he growls in frustration to himself. He would be spending a lot more time with Gilbert and Oz as of now.

Oh, how he hated Vincent Nightray.

"Sewer rat." Break hisses between clenched teeth as he disappears out of the doors of the library.

* * *

5:45 P.M

Oz slings a towel over his shoulder as he double checks inside his duffle bag, which is full of showering supplies and extra change of clothes. Once he un-zips the small hand held bag, the first thing he's greeted with, was the sight of his purple loofah. He makes sure his shampoo is tucked neatly away inside the bag, before he nods and heads towards his door inside the in-patient dorm room building.

He stops and stands, noticing a dark shadow coming from underneath the door. He smiles. Gilbert was always there, waiting patiently for him.

In just a little over two hours, things fell back to its normal pace between him and Gilbert, Oz had apologized to him shortly after their departure of the library, and had lied to Gilbert…Again…Just to let Gilbert know that he wasn't mad at him, he just had a lot of things going on lately that he felt a tad bit stressed, which was true in a way, but the fact was that he still felt a bit nervous and uncharacteristically scared that Gilbert only viewed him as an immature teenager.

But he couldn't exactly ask Gilbert if he really only views him as such, all he could do was listen to the advice that Vincent had given him, and his advice was for him to wait it out, and prove to Gilbert that he was in fact mature, by showing Gilbert that he can be happy and safe without him having him by his side 24/7.

And he already had a plan in mind to prove such a thing.

Because really, he was a 16-year-old boy, he was smart, intelligent to the point where it scared others of such a teenager having so much knowledge; and he was very careful and kept a close eye to those around him, that he was pretty much capable of taking care of himself. He did it before when growing up, he had to be strong and take care of himself while both his sister and his father were away for long periods of time, and that was when he was only 9-years of age. But now at sixteen, he knew that he could successfully prove to Gilbert that he can take care of himself, and watch over himself. And that would make Gilbert think that he wasn't just some troublesome immature teenager that needed constant watching over, and then finally he could be taken seriously by the body guard, not only that…But he could finally talk to Gilbert about all the things weighing on his mind…About how he felt.

Even though Oz himself had no idea what it was he felt for the security guard, he looked at him like he was his best friend, but then they had their moments, and Oz would then think about entirely different scenario's. And he liked the idea of it all. And he had to admit, he liked the way Gilbert looked at times, hell, he couldn't lie, he liked everything about Gilbert, except for the fact that he was just so damn shy and timid around him to the point where Gilbert looked uncomfortable with all the things that Oz does.

And that hurt.

Looking back down to the floor, he saw the familiar shadow of Gilbert, still waiting patiently for him on the other side of his door, this time he wasn't pacing back and forth.

He smiles small and reaches for the door knob, and just as he does, Gilbert on the other side of the door, opens it at the exact same time.

Causing Oz to stumble back at the suddenness of the weight of the man on the other side of the door, who was leaning against the door for balance when Oz happened to open the door at the exact same time.

Gilbert quickly takes two steps back and away from the door with an embarrassed blush staining his cheeks, he clears his throat. "I, uh…Wanted to see if you needed help with anything." He quickly explains himself.

Oz tilts his head to the side and looks down at the small hand-held duffle bag he had since he was 12, and looks back up at Gilbert with curiosity. "It's really not that heavy Gil, besides. You're my bodyguard, not my Valet." He comments, smirking when he manages to make Gilbert quickly nod his head to agree with him.

"Y-you're right, sorry." The raven-haired man apologizes.

Oz rolls his eyes and steps out of his dorm room and shuts the door behind him with a smile, noticing the familiar fidget and twitches that he was accustomed at seeing when it came to Gilbert. "C'mon twitchy, escort me to the shower stalls will ya?" Oz suggests with a mocking tone of voice.

Gilbert scowls at the nickname. "Call me that, and I'll start calling you Banana-head." He threatens.

Oz returns Gil's scowl and cocks his hip to the side in defiance. "I'll make sure to keep calling you Seaweed-head every chance I get if you do." He counters with a devious smirk.

Gilbert threw his hands up in the air as he caves in. "Fine! I won't call you anything, just don't call me twitchy…I already know I am." Gilbert mumbles, Oz almost didn't catch it. But the blonde youth merely smiles and walks down the hallway.

"Alright then." Oz replies. "I won't call you anything. _Bodyguard_." Oz purrs, smirking over his shoulder at Gilbert before heads into the direction of the shower stalls, which were located on the first floor closest to the back doors of the dorm building.

Gilbert shivers at that particular nickname and with a fleeting smile, he quickly takes his side with Oz.

* * *

_Not much for words, it's only at 4,233. That's sad, I usually write more than this...Oh well...Wutcha gon' do?_

_Anywhoo! Hope you liked this chapter! Because I had fun typing it. And again, I'm sorry for the wait, I was gonna post earlier, but then I got into a car accident, rolled a vehicle 4 times and stuff like that. So there was no time for me! Damn that vehicle straight to hell!_

_Review! Comment! Just to say hi or a simple sentence is enough for me._


	13. Fragile

_Hey guys! Real quick update huh? But yeah...I have bad news, this story is NOT going on hiatus, and I am NOT giving up on this its just that I'm leaving this place I've been staying at for a while and I won't have internet, therefore, I can't update or post new chapters for some time, and after I left you guys for a while too I'm leaving you again. I'm sorry! But I'm making up for it with a new and fluffy filled chapter, so I hope you enjoy~~_

* * *

Chapter 13: Fragile.

_-Night terrors are gripping him. And only one person is able to save him from...Himself...?-_

September 7th, 2013.

Saturday.

3:23 A.M

He thrashes, the blankets are barely hanging onto his body from the wild and frantic moving of the boy, and with another cry of pain, and with another violent jerk, the blankets fall entirely off of his body and scatter onto the floor in a heap beside his bed. Beads of persprint lick the sides of his face, his brow is drenched in sweat, and his face is coiled in pain and despair.

He was having a nightmare again, but this time, it was much worse than what he experienced before.

Hands were pulling him inside his dreams, touching, squeezing, groping, hurting and humiliating him. And no matter how much he pleaded, how much he cried, and no matter how much he tries to get away, no one was helping him, no one was coming to his aid. He couldn't even help himself.

And no one, ever really cared.

He watches in horror as his father turns, and leaves him in the clutches of these...Monsters, naked, and shrouded in darkness.

He screams in agony as pain suddenly explodes from his ribs, he casts his eyes downward onto his body, to see a knife stabbed into his gut. He screams again in pain as the knife slowly drags down lower, into his hip, onto his thigh, and into his leg.

And he couldn't stop them. The metallic taste of blood pours into his mouth, and when he turns his head slightly to the side to spit out the disgusting tasting liquid, his head gets slammed back into the bed, and he's forced to choke on his own blood, he gags and wheezes, trying to force his lungs to take in oxygen.

During this whole process of humiliation and torture, he could hear screaming, his father was yelling at him at that very moment, what else could his father possibly want from him? When he was in such a dreadful state?

"You're not my son! You're too weak and pathetic!" He could hear his father shouting from somewhere within the darkness of the room.

He could hear accusing voices, whispering and murmuring about him, he could hear it all around him. How he was evil, how he was odd, strange, not of this world. How he was insane, pathetic, crazy, and _not all there_.

He couldn't stop the hands, he couldn't stop the voices, he couldn't stop his father.

What else was there for him to do?

"Kill yourself, _boy_." He heard his father's voice drone from within the darkness.

Oz was suddenly all alone, a knife is clenched painfully inside his hands, and he is finally alone...But he's still in the dark. It was dark yes, but the ominous shine of the metal knife could easily be seen in that dimly lit room, his wrists were bare, and oh so tempting.

One slice, another slice onto the other wrist, and this whole ordeal, this torutre, this humiliation and hurt, could finally be over; his father won't have to hurt him anymore, none of the voices would ever be able to reach his ears ever again.

Wihtout any further hesitation, he pulls the knife down to his wrist and slices a large gash into his own flesh; he was at an awkward angle, which caused the knife to dig harshly from the inside of his wrist, down to the inside of his elbow, and blood instantly began pouring out of the wounds.

But just as he clenches the knife into his left hand, to slice a wound into the other wrist, flashes of images appear infront of his eyes.

His sister Ada is crying heavily, curled up in the middle of his room, and holding onto his dead, lifeless body inside her arms, she's clinging onto his lifeless form as though for dear life as she sobs heavily into his still and silent chest.

His father is still cursing his name up and down the walls, but he's holding a picture of Ada and him when they were younger, inside his hand, and Oz watches as his father throws the frame, where it smashes into the wall opposite of where his father stood.

And he sees Gilbert, clutching a hand to his chest as he falls to the carpet of his room on his knees in shock, a look of pure undeniable fear is etched onto his face as he stares wide eyed at the dead body clutched inside Ada's arms.

When Oz looks down to his wrists, and sees that both his hands are bleeding now, and that both his wrists are cut open widely, and gore is spilling forth from out of the self-inflicted wounds, he quickly regretted ever trying to take his life. He was dying now, and he _still _couldn't do anything to help himself.

"Oz!"

"Ahhhh!" Oz screams in fright, thrashing his legs and clawing at anything that he could get his hands on. "I'm sorry!" He shouts loudly, kicking his legs wildly about as he trembles uncontrollably.

He feels hands at his shoulders, and instantly, the image of his dad floats into his wild, blurried gaze. He quickly snaps both his eyes shut and screams in terror as he pleads for his father to "stop", to "stop hurting _him_."

"Oz! Enough!" He hears a voice shout from in front of him.

He shakes his head wildly in denial as he lets forth another terrified sounding scream. "Let me go! Don't hurt me anymore!" He pleads, he grabs onto something, and he gives it a violent tear with his nails.

"Gilbert! Un-hand him at once!"

"He still thinks he's dreaming!"

"But if you continue to hold onto him, he'll only _hurt _you!"

_He _will only hurt _you_? Who is _he_? His father? Who exactly did these voices belong to that are constantly shouting?

"Oz! It's Gilbert! Open your eyes!"

Oz stills, as though a huge wave of ice cold water had suddenly, and violently, crashed through him, he realizes in pure shock that what had currently took place, had all been a dream, that no one was there to hurt him anymore, that nobody _was _hurting him, slicing him, and torturing him, it had all been but a horrible nightmare, and that the voices he heard mentioning the name of "_he_", they were actually talking about _him_.

_He _was _Oz_, and he was in a hospital for the mentally ill.

And the voices that were constantly shouting, belonged to that of Xerxes Break, and the other voice, belonged to that of Gilbert Nightray.

"Gil...?" Oz whispers out, finally opening his tear filled eyes to stare hopelessly lost at the security guard above him.

Gilbert instantly relaxes at the sight of Oz's eyes, which were full of confusion, but he could easily see that _Oz _was once again, inside those sparkling emerald green eyes, and he sighs heavily in relief at the sight. "Oz..." He breathes, slowly taking his hands away from the boy's trembling shoulders.

But just as he was about to take his hands away, the boy flies at him at a neck breaking speed and tackles him to the floor.

"It was a dream...it was a dream..." Oz kept reminding himself, his body was still trembling like a leaf, but he felt a lot safer in the arms of his bodyguard. "It was only a nightmare...A nightmare..." Oz repeats, clutching desperately onto Gilbert's shoulders as he shook inside his bodyguard's arms.

Gilbert blinks in surprise at being easily tackled to the floor, by a fifteen year old no less, but when he focuses purely on what Oz was whispering to himself, he couldn't help but pull his arms up, and embrace the boy.

The boy was still scared, terrified from how badly he is shaking inside Gilbert's arms, but once the bodyguard combs through the tangled and messy head of shining blonde hair, Gilbert begins to notice a change in Oz's body language, the teen is no longer shaking, he is no longer repeating his words to form some kind of protective barrier around him, Oz was relaxing and breathing calmly through his nose, and into Gilbert's chest.

"I'll inform the men outside that Oz is now calm and sedated."

Both the boy's flinch at the sound of Break's calm voice, they had both actually forgotten the therapist was inside the room with them.

So when Gilbert shifts his head, he sees Break smirking at him from over his shoulder as the doctor leaves the room without another word, and quietly shuts the door behind him. Gilbert could hear the murmuring of voices from the other side. Break actually _did_ go and inform the other security guards and the medical staff that Oz was now alright and calm.

"Gilbert...?" Oz whispers from within Gil's chest quietly.

Gilbert tilts his head back down and hums his reply down to the boy at his chest.

"How...Bad...Was I...?" Oz whispers again, he had no idea why he was whispering, but the silence was calming, save for the quiet breathing and heartbeat of Gilbert. And he also thought that if he so much as raised his voice one octave, the nightmares, and the memories, would come flying back at him.

"You...Don't remember?" Gilbert replies, voice calm. He was trying at that very moment to be strong, but Gilbert, was probably as scared as Oz was.

Oz shakes his head. "I'm...Afraid to..."

Gilbert felt his heart drop to his stomach at the sound of Oz's light voice, which was laced with fear. The security guard couldn't help but tighten his hold around Oz's back, and bury his nose within the blonde locks of Oz's messy bedhead. "You're alright now...You...Were pretty bad this time...Do you even know that we're on the floor?"

"What?" Oz whispers harshly, lifting his head up from the crook of Gilbert's neck to glance around at his surroundings.

And yes, they _are _on the floor, in the furthest corner of his inpatient dorm room, with his bed a mess, his mirror on the floor and shattered to pieces, and there they lay, on the floor inside the messy room.

"How...Did I...?" He trails off, taken aback at his own erradict behavior.

Oz lifts himself up, and plants his legs on either side of Gilbert's waist as he looks furiously around his room, everything looked different now, tainted in way. Only because he was completely out of it when he had destroyed nearly everything inside his room.

"What is wrong with me?" He harshly questions himself, grabbing the sides of his head with both his hands and blocking out whatever voices he had started to rise and reach his ears.

"Oz?" Gilbert calls, brows wrinkled in confusion as he notices the boy's sudden behavior. "Oz?" He calls again, he starts to sit up and when he does, he plants a reassuring hand on Oz's shoulder. "Are you alright?" He looks at Oz's hands, and notices the slight trembling in the boy's movements.

"Gilbert...Why am I like this...?" Oz whispers, hanging his head as he drops his hands onto Gilbert's strong shoulder blades and clutches desperately at the fabric of Gilbert's dress shirt. "I'm...scared..." he stammers. _'I'm scared...Of myself...!' _He whimpers lightly, then bites down hard onto his lip for making such noise in the presence of Gil.

Gilbert shakes his head with a sad sigh. "I...Have no idea Oz...But I've seen worse, what you did here, is nothing compared to what I've seen the other patients do." He tries to reason with Oz.

Who only shakes his head and digs harshly into his shoulders with his hands. "I'm...Abnormal..."

"No you're not." Gilbert replies sternly. "You are just a boy that had to deal with things he wasn't ready for. You've been pushed into this behavior and it isn't your fault at all."

"Then why can't I just be normal like the rest?" Oz questions, his voice rising in volume.

"Shh...You're okay now..." Gilbert informs. "I don't want you getting a headache with so much thinking."

"But..." Oz tries to argue, but what was the point? Oz merely shakes his head with a sigh and nods his head soon after. "Okay...But what about my room?"

"The staff will handle that tomorrow."

"But the mirror..It wasn't even mine, do I need to pay to replace it?"

"No. The hospital is equiped and funded with these certian objects, I'm sorry Oz but, I don't think they'll allow you to have another mirror because of this...Incident." Gilbert informs, pursing his lip in displeasure at having to call what this entire...Thing was, as a mere "incident".

Oz nods his head and slowly, he gets up from the lap of Gilbert and silently walks to the edge of his bed, and plops himself down with a huff. "Will they punish me for making a wreck out of the room?"

"No. The hospital is strict, but not with things such as this." Gilbert announces, dusting himself off as he walks to the edge of Oz bed as well, and kneels in front of the boy with a small smile. "No more worrying. Just go to bed."

"I don't want to sleep." Oz quickly exclaims, he reaches forward and grabs hold of Gilbert's shoulders once again, right now, Gilbert's shoulders were the most reassuring attribute the bodyguard had at that moment, besides his caring golden eyes. "Will you stay?" He asks quietly, locking eyes with his bodyguard.

Who looks away with a frown and directs his attention to the door. "Break might want to discuss something with me..." He reluctantly replies, he didn't want to go, but thus is his job, he might be needed else where. He looks back to Oz with a smile. "But I won't be gone long. I promise I will be back." He vows to the teen, patting the younger male's leg reassuringly as he rises from his kneeling posistion.

"Please don't go!" Oz pleads, desperately grabbing onto Gilbert's dress shirt sleeve with his hand and tugging the security guard towards him. "I don't...Want to be alone..." He announces quietly.

Gilbert looks from the door, back to Oz, to the doorway again, but then sighs and nods his head. "I might get in trouble, but I don't really give a damn." He chuckles with a roll of his eyes. "I will stay. As long as you lay down and get comfortable in bed, then I will stay the entire night." He quickly informs the teen sternly.

Oz merely nods his head and slides himself backward across the bed, not needing to be told twice as he lays down onto the disheveled sheets of his mattress, and hugs the pillow to his chest. "You promise, right?" Oz quickly replies, his voice serious as he looks over to the raven-haired security guard in skepticism.

But when Gilbert nods his head in reply with a smile stretched crookedly across his face, that's the only indication Oz needs to know that the security guard will keep his word. So when Oz gets comfortable and lays his head back down onto the bed, he sighs calmly and wills the negative thoughts, and feelings, away from his body, practically willing to forget that this night ever happened and hoping to forget it ever took place.

He can't even remember what his nightmare was about, flashes of blurred and black visions flitt across his mind, but they were much to distorted to make heads or tails out of.

"Want a blanket?"

At the sound of Gilbert's voice, the images all but shattered away completely, warmth and security wrapped around him entirely. He nods his head.

"Yes please." Oz replies, smiling small, despite feeling just a tad bit embarrassed and horrified that the security guard had to witness his hysteria...Again. But this time, the "incident" was much worse then before.

Oz nuzzles into his pillow further as Gilbert lifts the blanket over his body, and gently lays it down across him and his bed. He peeks his eyes open, to see that Gilbert was fussing with the posistioning of the blanket. He chuckles lightly when he notices the concentrated look on the security guards facial expression.

Gilbert quirks an eyebrow up at the giggling teenager and purses his lip. "What's so funny?"

"You're acting like my valet again. Should I just tell everyone your my valet instead of bodyguard?" Oz teases lightly, smile directed at Gilbert.

Who ducks his head with a light blush staining across his cheeks. "I'm just making sure—"

"—don't fret Gil, I like the mother hen in you." Oz replies, still smiling broadly at the raven-haired man at his bedside.

Gilbert only smiles and rests a hand upon Oz's head. "Rest now. I said I would stay if you take it easy. If you're gonna tease, I'm gone."

Oz quickly shakes his head in worry and swiftly grabs hold of Gilbert's hand. "I promise I won't tease."

"Take it easy Oz. I'm only kidding." Gilbert smiles.

Oz nods his head with a pout. "I know...Its just that you tease with a serious expression, it's misleading."

Gilbert holds a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter, but when Oz looks up at him with that adorable pout, he couldn't help but laugh at the boy. "You're so cute." He laughs, but then quickly slaps a hand over his mouth with a dark embarassed blush. "I-I-I m-mean...!" He tries to cover his slip up, but when Oz is peering up at him curiously, he lost all the words.

Oz smiles brightly and squeezes Gilbert's hand in his own. "You are too when you blush and babble like an idiot."

"Oz..." Gilbert groans in offence, quickly looking away with a scowl.

Oz chuckles lightly and pulls his bodyguard forcefully by the hand, causing Gilbert to lose his balance and lunge forward towards the teen below. They lay there for a couple of silent seconds, Gilbert just barely touching his lips against the cool flesh of Oz's neck, with Oz's nose just inches away from his ear.

The security guard would definitely be babbling like an idiot by how close they were on the bed and with the posistions they were in...

But when Oz was merely a breath away from his ear, he ceases all train of thought completely.

"I feel better..." Gilbert hears Oz softly say from directly beside his ear. "Gilbert, you always make me feel better, I don't even know how you do it. Even like this, I feel safe when I'm with you." Oz whispers into Gilbert's ear, finally releasing his hold on his bodyguard's hand, to plant both his hands across Gilbert's shoulders in a hug. "I don't want you to leave, will you stay?"

"I already said I—" Gilbert was about to reply, but when he felt Oz shaking his head, he goes silent once again.

"I mean like this...Lay with me...?" Oz whispers timidly, glad for once that Gilbert can't see his face, because if Gilbert did see, Oz knew for sure that he would only be teased about how cute he was again, just by how red his face was getting.

Did he really just ask such a thing from Gilbert? And what would he possibly think of it?

Only one way to find out, and that was with Gilbert's reply.

Gilbert bites his lip in worry, he was already treading on dangerous grounds here, and their posistions definitely didn't make it any better, but what else could he say? No? That would surely hurt the boy's feelings. More so than they already were at this point. But with the boy hugging him, telling him things that he has never heard anyone say to him before, and with Oz breathing just beside his ear, he found absolutely no reason to say no, it's because he really did want to stay, exactly like this.

Gilbert nods his head slowly, he slides his hands up and plants them on either side of Oz's blonde head as he eases himself off of the boy to stare down at him with a small, and completely nervous, looking smile. "Okay...But I'm laying beside you, I'm not gonna squish you all night." He states with a roll of his eyes as he lays himself down beside the smiling teen.

With one arm cradling his head, while the other rests against his hip, he openingly stares and admires the boy beside him. Oz really didn't know the power of his own persuasive words, Gilbert was sure that if Oz so much as beckoned him, he would follow the blonde-haired teenager instantly. And that to Gilbert was a scary thought, but besides feeling mildly irritated at his own submissive behavior, he couldn't find no flaw in that thought. He would gladly follow Oz through and hell and back if need be, as long as he was able to protect him from any other danger, he would gladly follow him anywhere.

"You're doing it again."

Gilbert blinks out of his thoughts, and focuses more accurately at Oz beside him. "Doing what again?" He asks in confusion.

"Looking at me...Like I'm the last person alive." Oz easily announces, rolling onto his side to face Gilbert completely.

Gilbert blushes, and he averts his gaze to the sheets between them. "I'm..."

_'Admiring how beautiful you are, and imagining all of the nights where it's just me and you, exactly like this.' _Is what he wants to say.

But of course, he couldn't tell Oz his thoughts, not without first telling Oz about how, and when his feelings ever started to arise.

So looking back to Oz, he smiles sadly. "I'm sorry." He apologizes.

Oz shakes his head and sighs. "It's alright...I like..."

_'I like all of your expressions, especially the look you just had on. It always makes me feel special. And wanted.' _Is what Oz's exact thoughts were. But he couldn't possibly say that, not without telling Gilbert his feelings. And leaving his feelings open, and vulnerable, was a foolish thing to do.

So he smiles broadly and looks directly into Gil's eyes. "I like your blank stare, its funny." He chuckles. That also wasn't a lie.

Gilbert scowls and bops the teenager in the forehead with his hand. "Go to sleep." He grumbles.

Oz chuckles one last time before resting his head onto Gilbert's hand between them. "I...Can't help it, I'm sorry Gilbert but..." He trails off, closing his eyes.

Gilbert heart starts beating wildly in his chest, his eyes go uncharacteristically wide as they stare dumbfounded at the teen's closed eyes expectantly. _'Can't help but...? What is he going to say?'_

"I can't help but get close to you. You're so safe." Oz whispers, sliding his way closer to Gilbert's side on the bed and rests his head completely onto Gilbert's chest, breathing deeply through his nose. Gilbert scent was truly admirable, he always smelt so fresh, clean, and he had this certain quality to his scent that sent shivers down his spine. "I like it..." He whispers, snaking his arm up, and grasps Gilbert's shirt in his hand.

Gilbert nervously gulps, and nods his head. "Thank you...I...Don't really know what to say to that." He replies honestly.

Oz smiles into Gilbert's chest and listens closely to the heavy beating of Gilbert's heart. The rhythymn was erratic and wild, and it soothed his nerves, Gilbert was just as scared as he was in this sudden unpredictable predicament.

"Goodnight, Gilbert." Oz says softly, tilting his head up to smile happily at Gilbert above.

Gilbert blushes at the close proximity, but nods his head all the same. "Goodnight, Oz..."

Silence unfolds in that already deathly silent and broken room, but with the calm breathing of Oz, who was now asleep, Gilbert doesn't realize that silent minutes turned into hours, until he himself, was asleep, with the boy comfortably cradled inside his arms.

* * *

Oz cracks his emerald eyes open, just a sliver, because the torn curtain hung up above his bed was streaming in bright sunlight, and it reached to the other side of the room, and he was now currently and momentarily blind. He groans at the bright light and buries his face further into the warm confines of his blanket, he snuggles closer with a small mewl escaping his lips and sighs in pure bliss at the warmth wrapped around him.

"Are you awake?"

"Ahh!" Oz shouts in complete shock as he quickly rolls over and looks frantically around his disheveled room.

"Oz..."

Oz hears his name being called, and when he looks down, he sees that he's straddling Gilbert, who is looking up at him in confusion.

"Are you okay?" Gilbert asks calmly, rubbing the sleep from his golden eye, he was still half-asleep and so far, he was having a rude awakening.

Oz blushes furiously and nods his head quickly. "U-uh, y-yeah. I am. Sorry, did I scare you?" Oz asks, looking around the room again. "I didn't know I fell asleep."

Gilbert yawns loudly and slaps a hand on Oz's knee. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep here either. I was gonna leave before you woke up."

Oz looks down at Gilbert in confusion. "You were gonna leave? Why?" He shifts on top of Gilbert, his legs were starting to get numb.

Gilbert looks up at Oz and sighs heavily. "I'll explain later...But first, can you stop...Moving?" Gilbert asks, hissing under his breath at the friction Oz was causing on his mid-section.

Oz blushes brightly and quickly jumps up. "Sorry!" He apologizes as he jumps down from the bed, only to land on a stray shard of glass with his foot.

"Oww!" The blonde-haired teen shouts loudly, quickly falling back onto the side of his bed with his rump, he lifts his foot to inspect the damage. And yep, he was bleeding, and profusely from how large the shard of glass was from the mirror. He quickly takes the glass out, but he could still see tiny glass shards embedded into his heel to the center of his foot. And for such a small gash, his blood was leaking down his heel to his ankle, to his leg. And onto the floor.

"Damn it, let me see." Gilbert quickly sits up and goes over to Oz, who is sitting at the side of his bed, he sweeps the glass away with his foot, grabs the pillow and dusts it across the floor to make sure he doesn't kneel onto glass himself. And once he timidly reaches and grabs onto Oz's leg to inspect the damage, he sees that Oz's foot was bleeding, and the blood was everywhere on Oz's leg and even on the floor. He cringes and inwardly gags in disgust at the sight of the crimson liquid. But he knew that Oz must be in pain, so he pushes the disgust aside and gets up from Oz's bedside to hold out his hand. "Let's get you to the hospital." He announces sternly, still holding out his hand for Oz to take.

"How far is it?" Oz hisses. His eyes were getting teary with the pain in his foot, it stung, like little burning needles are constantly poking into his foot. And he already absolutely dreaded going for a walk all the way to the hospital from how badly it hurt. He doesn't even want to take Gilbert's generous hand and stand.

"The nurses should be awake, but the infirmary is on the other side of the hospital in the back of the building."

"Why is it there? It's a hospital! Beds, nurses, and doctors should be every where inside that place!"

"This place isn't like an ordinary hospital Oz, it's for the mentally ill. But the nurses are always on-call so we gotta go there and—"

"—it's too far Giiiil!" Oz whines, clutching onto his ankle and hissing painfully through his clenched teeth. "Please just take the tiny bits of glass out and help me clean it..?" The blood was already drying and getting sticky around his ankle.

"O-Oz..." Gilbert's voice drops to a mere whisper as he furiously shakes his head. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" Oz asks, he closes his eyes tightly and whimpers lightly. "Ugggh! It hurts Gil!" He bemoans, holding his foot aloft in the air.

"I'm not good with blood!" Gilbert quickly explains, both eyes tightly shut. "It's taking a lot of will power to _not_ gag and throw up right now."

Oz opens his eyes, and with a stern look and blazing determination in his eyes and facial expression, he grabs the sides of Gilbert's head in both his hands and holds the security guard close to his own face. "Look at me Gilbert." Oz demands sternly.

The security guard timidly opens his eyes and stares wide eyed at the blonde youth in front of him, who looked to be giving him a strong determined look. It was breath taking.

"I need you to stay calm, it's blood yes, and it's gross, but it's only temporary. It's drying, and all I need you to do, is carry me to the bathroom, and I will do the rest. You can do this Gilbert. And I will be very thankful for your help, so you need to push the negative thoughts, and feelings, away." Oz says sternly, face serious as he stares encouragingly at the security guard kneeled before him at his bedside. He gives Gilbert a bright and happy smile as he tilts his head. "Won't you help me Gil?" He asks softly.

Gilbert didn't know whether to feel ashamed of his idiotic fear, or be grateful to Oz for being so supportive. So he went with both. "I'm sorry, I must look like an idiot for being afraid of blood, but I'll help you. Grab onto my shoulder with one arm, and I'll lift you from the bed." Gilbert says determinedly as he bends forward, holding out his arms.

"Are you going to carry me like a princess?" Oz pouts, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm not a damsel in distress Gil, can't you carry me on your back?"

Gilbert rolls his eyes. "Why should it matter how I carry you?! Just let me help you damn it!" Gilbert hisses.

"Okay okay!" Oz holds up both his hands in surrender. "Don't need to have a hissy..." He mumbles under his breath.

"Shaddup and hold onto me." Gilbert states flatly.

Oz quirks an eyebrow up at him, but then sighs heavily and nods in agreement. He lifts his left arm, turns his body slightly and lifts his left leg for Gilbert to take, once his arm is over Gilbert's shoulders, he clutches onto the fabric of Gilbert's white dress shirt and swings his right arm to hold onto Gilbert's shoulders as well, and just as he does, Gilbert grabs hold of both his legs, and lifts him from the bed with a light huff.

"Am I heavy?" Oz asks with a smile.

Gilbert shakes his head no. "In fact, your lighter than what I took you for. You're really light...Have you been eating properly Oz?" He asks softly, voice full of concern.

Oz rolls his eyes and points to the door. "We'll discuss how I eat on daily basis some other time, just get me to the bathroom and worry about one thing at a time."

"Right." Gilbert nods, swiftly he strides towards the door, looks over his shoulder to process the damage of the room. He would have to come back to get this whole mess cleaned up with the help of the nurses and a janitor.

"What are you waiting for Gil? For the glass to pop out of my foot and clean itself?"

Gilbert grunts and opens the door. "The bathroom should be down the hall to the left, am I right?" He asks, he came to the inpatient dorm building many times in the past, when he was a bodyguard for Alice, but ever since then, he hardly ever sets foot inside and walk freely inside the patients dorms.

"Yes. And...I'm sorry Gilbert..." Oz's voice drops to a mere whisper.

Gilbert raises an eyebrow. "For what?"

"I got blood on your clean white shirt. It'll stain."

"Thanks for that Oz..." Gilbert replies sardonically. "But I'm not worried about my shirt right now."

"You will be once I'm all cleaned up." Oz replies with a smirk.

"Are you trying to make me feel better? 'Cause it isn't working."

* * *

September 7th, 2013.

Saturday.

7:50 P.M

"You're missing Breakfast Oz." Gilbert states regretfully as he gently places Oz onto the sink inside the boys washroom and grabs a handful of paper-towels in order for Oz to clean up his leg and foot with.

Oz chuckles and shrugs his shoulders. "I don't really mind. I hardly eat breakfast anyways." He states with a small smile as he eases himself closer to the mirror behind his back as he gently turns himself towards the sink beside him and runs the cold water. "This is gonna sting..." He bemoans, gently dipping his fingers in the cold running water, before finally pulling his foot into the sink and rinsing out his bloody foot with a hiss and a gasp. "It's so cold!" He gasps.

Gilbert smiles and timidly goes to Oz's side at the sink. "Make sure you get your foot all clean, I'll help you take out the shards of glass."

"But what about your phobia of blood?" Oz asks, looking over his shoulder to Gilbert beside him.

Gilbert shrugs and runs a hand through his tangled heap of messy black hair with a sigh. "I gotta get over it sometime, don't I?" He asks with a small fleeting smile before he turns his attention back to Oz's foot inside the sink. Watching in light fascination as the blood is almost completely gone from the wound and draining into the sink.

Oz goes back to cleaning his foot and after a minute of rinsing, he shuts off the water and grabs his ankle with a hiss. "Okay, paper-towel." Oz asks, holding out his hand expectantly towards Gilbert without looking away from his foot, wanting to know whether or not his foot would still bleed or not, but when no new blood seeps out of the wound, he slides away from the sink with a nod of his head.

But then gasps in surprise as Gilbert gently grabs hold of his ankle, and his hand, and gently places the towel over his cold and wounded foot. "What are you doing?" Ask Oz in fright, he hadn't expected Gilbert to help him this much, he only wanted help to the bathroom.

Gilbert smiles at Oz and careful takes the towel away, grabs a new one and places it back onto his foot with ease. "I want to help you Oz. In anyway I can."

"Even if you get sick?"

"Even then, I would push it aside and continue to help you." Gilbert announces with a smile, before he looks back down to help dry the wound.

Oz was surprise to say the least, at this new found sense of generosity and kindness from Gilbert. It was as though Gilbert was trying to be strong for his sake, but that wasn't it, maybe Gilbert was just naturally calm and strong? He just didn't have it in him at the time since their meeting...

_'So then...Was it me and my speech that brought out the strong Gil?' _Oz thought, maybe it was, and maybe it wasn't, but Oz knew for a fact, that he liked this side of Gilbert. He liked it very much. In fact...

Oz nervously reaches forward with his right hand, and places it on top of Gilbert's hand by his right leg at the sink. And inwardly smirks at the flinch he received from Gilbert at the action. As Gilbert looks up to meet Oz's gaze, his eyes widen at the sight before him.

Gilbert noticed just how beautiful Oz was the moment he laid eyes on him, but it only intensified at this very moment. Oz was smiling down at him with his hand placed directly on top of his own and the teenager is rubbing his thumb gently across his skin. "Oz...?" Gilbert calls timidly.

Oz smiles and gently takes his hand away from Gil's to place it at the side of his face with a soft smile, noticing that Gilbert had started blushing. "You know what Gilbert? I like this strong side of you...And I'm sorry for acting so weird lately, and for all the mean things I have said. I hope you can forgive me for them." Oz says softly, running his thumb across Gilbert's cheek gently and then slides his hand down his cheek to cup his chin in his hand.

Gilbert's face heats up furiously at the casual touches, and when his face gets tilted up further by the help of Oz's which is currently holding his chin, his eyes close with a soft sigh. This was nice, Oz's skin, Oz's hands, his words, his voice. He very much liked everything about the boy. "I forgive you..." He whispers. When he feels that both Oz's hands are on his face, his tilts his head to the side and leans further into Oz's touch.

Oz blushes at the sight before him, a grown 24-year-old man, is leaning into his hands, kneeling before him, and closing his eyes with a soft sigh escaping his lips as though it was the most beautiful and softest touch in the world. He leans down, his lips trembling in both fear and excitement. "Gilbert..." He whispers softly.

When Gilbert flicks his eyes open, just a sliver, he felt his limbs go numb in shock and anticipation, Oz has his eyes closed, he was leaning further towards him as though...As though he wants to kiss him. With Oz's lips just barely touching his own, he reaches up with both his hands, and gently caresses the back of Oz's neck to plant a gentle and very light kiss onto the teen's rosy pink lips.

Oz felt his face flush, felt Gilbert's lips burn against his own, and felt as though he could fly. The butterflies were going mad inside his stomach, and he felt weightless. Gilbert's lips were so soft, so gentle. And the hands at the back of his neck and head, felt so sure, and strong. Oz timidly pushes his lips further into Gilbert's, and he heard his bodyguard whimper at the touch. As though he was scared, or thrilled.

When they both pull away, they lock eyes instantly, and they both share a meaningful look, a look of pure hope, kindness, and thankfulness in that one gaze. And it seemed like an eternity had passed, before they lean forward once again, and capture each others lips in another gentle kiss.

"Oz..." Gilbert whispers between the kiss.

"Gil..." Oz replies, he wraps both his arms around Gilbert's shoulders and clutches almost desperately at the security guards strong shoulder blades. "I...Really..."

"Hellloooooo!" Cheers a merry voice just as the person crashes though the door.

They break away, both blushing madly in embarrassment and shock, they swiftly turn their frightened gazes towards the culprit, and their stomachs drop at the sight of the person that oh so rudely, barged into the bathroom, and ruined their peaceful and heart warming moment.

"B-Break!" Oz stammers nervously, quickly he pushes Gilbert away, with enough strength and force to throw the bodyguard off his feet.

* * *

_Oh hoh hohhhh...Something is going down...So steamy ;)_

_And finally! They kiss! Bittersweet moment wasn't it? And I'm terribly sorry for the cliff hanger...Actually, no I'm not, what I'm sorry for is the fact that I'm leaving._

_I'm leaving this place I have been staying at for a while, and I don't think I will be able to post another chapter for a sometime, considering that I won't have internet at the place I'm going to. And I'm very sorry for that._

_And to end the chapter at such a state! I'm so sorry! But please review and tell me what you think of the chapter, and I assure you, another chapter WILL be posted, as soon as I have internet, in the meantime, please be patient..._

_Also, i'm sorry if you see a few mistakes, i tried!_

_-Hella_


	14. Deduction

Chapter 14: Deduction.

_-Break suspected something from the start, he always knew something was happening between the bodyguard and the blonde-haired patient. But now that he knows, what exactly is he going to do about it? And why is Gilbert so jealous...? Could it be that...He has fallen in love...?-_

Gilbert falls to the bathroom floor with a grunt of pain as he hurriedly looks up in pure and undeniable dread as he stares wide eyed at the red-eyed spector that had just waltz into the bathroom, as though he owned the friggin' place. He didn't even know how in the blue hell Break had been able to find them.

Break looks to and fro at the two blushing duo, and tilts his head to the side. He knew right away that he had just walk in on something, but what exactly he had walked in on, he had no idea.

But he knew it was against the rules, had Gilbert just broke the number one rule that he had told the security guard numerous of times in the past-if he ever wanted to get fired on the spot for that is-to never to do? Has Gilbert just been getting intimate with the patient, Oz? And when exactly did this happen? Has this been the first time it had transipired? And how far has it gotten?

Those were the many questions he wanted to spew forth at that moment, but Break...Knew better not to.

Yes he knew it was against the rules for a security guard to have an intimate relationship with a patient, and yes he knew he should fire Gilbert on the spot for it, and yes he knew it was his duty to do just that but...He also knew what it was that he shouldn't do.

Xerxes Break, therapist and doctor to the Pandora Hearts Hospital for years, was going to break the rules himself. He would keep this little...Thing...Whatever it was, a secret. He would play it cool. Because he knew something was stirring in the air surrouning a particular patient.

Vincent Nightray to be exact.

And in fear of Oz possibly getting hurt by the deceitful and dangerous man, Break knew he couldn't fire Gilbert, _yet_...Because of those reasons alone.

Break knew Vincent was plotting something, and it all revovled around the patient Oz. What the blonde-haired man was planning for the teenager, Break has yet to find out, but he couldn't fire Oz's bodygaurd yet, not when the battle of whits, not when the game, has just begun.

Break was going to keep all that he knew, all that he saw, a secret.

And the both of them better be grateful for that fact. But as soon as he finds out what Vincent is planning, he would put a stop to everything, then surely he would fire Gilbert after stopping Vincent's plans, and hire a new bodyguard for Oz.

But until then, he wold have to keep a close watch over Vincent, and Gilbert better keep a close watch over Oz. Because Oz might possibly be in danger as of now.

After what felt like several minutes to the entire residents currently silent inside the boy's washrooms of the inpatient dorm building, Break grins in delight and gestures for the doorway with a sweep of his hands.

"Well? Aren't you two supposed to be at the hospital by now?" Break asks merrily. "You're breaking the rules you two, and not keeping with schedule." He purses his lip in disdain with a waggle of his finger in a scolding manner.

Gilbert looks over to Oz, who looks right at him at that exact moment, with nervous yet relieved smiles gracing upon their expressions, they share a relieved sounding laugh together.

"What's so funny?" Break asks, pouting slightly as he puts both his hands to his hips.

Oz waves the question away with a chuckle and looks to Break with a smile. "I'm sorry...It's just that when you run into a room looking like a mad man, it's scary yenno?" Oz teases, but then points to his foot with a small pout. "And also, I just suffered a recent injury this morning climbing out of bed." He announces with a tired sigh.

Break quirks an eyebrow and walks over to the edge of the sink in front of Oz's feet and scrutinizes his stare. "Ahh...I see..." He announces softly. "You have glass in your foot...Must be from the broken mirror from last night..." He mumbles as he straightens his hunched over posture in front of Oz with a bright smile. "Welp! I guess we'll just have to get your foot patched up, then get you to the cafeteria for a late breakfast, where you will then get your daily dose of medications and vitamins." He announces happily as he turns his back to Oz, and slightly bends his knee's. "I'll give you a piggy-back riiiide!" He announces joyfully.

"What?" Gil and Oz shout in unison.

"What?" Break asks, pouting. "I'm being nice here Oz, the least you can do is say 'thank you'." He purses his lip in displeasure.

Oz looks to Gilbert with pleading eyes, but when Gilbert only looks away with a small smile adorning his handsome face, Oz felt his eyebrow twitch in irritation. _'You little traitor!'_

"Well? Aren't you gonna hop on Oz, or wait for the glass to infect your foot?"

Oz sighs heavily in reluctance as he slowly wraps his arms around Break slender neck, and wraps his legs lazily around Break's waist with a deep uncomfortable frown. And all Break does, is smile happily as he carries the boy on his back with a cheery sounding "Heave ho!" as they head to the door of the washroom.

* * *

11:30 P.M

"But what about lastnight?" Break asks sternly. Narrowing his eyes at the timid blonde-haired teenager seated infront of his oak wood desk as he bridges his hands together. "You just had a panic attack lastnight, you have yet to let your mind rest, and give it time to heal from the stress the nightmare put your body through." Break deadpans.

"But I feel fine! I swear!" Oz replies, smiling broadly at the white-haired therapist in front of him, still trying to convince the hard-headed doctor. "I had a good sleep lastnight afterwards, and I think I got it all out of my system." He smiles. "Besides the cut open foot, I feel great I promise!"

Break shakes his head with a sigh. "You still don't understand though Oz. You might feel fine, but the stress is still evident inside your head. You have to give it a few days to recover. If you go out now, and if something causes you to have another attack as serious as the one lastnight, and in the eyes of the public, what would you do? What if something triggers something within your memories?"

Oz lowers his gaze to the floor. But then shrugs his shoulders. "I...Don't know what I'd do...But I swear Break, I feel fine! I don't even know what my nightmare was about, I can't remember it. Isn't that a good thing though? If I don't remember, then I shouldn't have another panic attack!" Oz tries to reason with the therapist as he gives Break another dazzling smile. "Please let me out Break...I want to see Ada..." He trails off as he wrings his hands together.

Break shakes his head and growls lightly under his breath. The brat could be whiny...And troublesome. The boy just didn't get it. Break had a Ph.D, he was a specialist in dealing with the mentally ill, and he had years of expreience in these sorts of situations. He had damn certificates and diplomas hung up all around his office to strengthen his theories! He certainly knew what he was talking about. And he certainly knew _full well _what he was doing, he knew the difficulties in the lives of those with mental disabilities, he knew the out-comes in certian patients as well. But Oz Vessalius, he looked so adament and determined that he wouldn't have another panic attack, that maybe it was all up to Oz at this point in therapy...? But Break certianly knew better than to get his hopes that high-up. Especially since he can't figure out what it is that is wrong with Oz yet, even the specialist dealing with Oz and the other paitents can't seem to figure out what Oz's diagnosis is. If he even has one, but from what happened lastnight, they were getting closer to solving just what it is that is happening inside Oz's head, they had theories but...No solid evidence yet...

Break looks over to Oz again, to see that Oz was looking at him sternly, and the boy had an overly calculative stare, as though he was ready for whatever Break had to say, and he looked ready to argue at any given moment.

Break sighs heavily once again. _'I'm much too soft...If I let him out, and if I'm right on my assumptions-which I am of course-then basically I'm the one putting the boy through more stress than need be. But if Oz does do this, and he comes back unscathed as can be, mentally of course, then he proved himself, and over-came his fears. But that doesn't help me in the matter, I need to see it for myself what triggers and causes these erradict and unpredictable emotions to erupt within him...Gilbert will be there...I need to talk to Gilbert on this matter before I give Oz my answer.'_

"Oz." Break calls, and when Oz looks up at him in curiosity and with slight hope seen in his big emerald eyes, Break merely smiles and tosses the boy a candy. "I need to discuss something with Gilbert before I can release you out of the hospital for the day. Would you send him in?" Break asks, unfolding himself a piece of candy and pops it into his mouth without hesistation with a coy little smile.

Oz purses his lip in displeasure, but nods his head in reply. "Okay, I'll see you soon then Break." Oz announces with a small smile, and waves his farewells as he gets up from the chair in front of Break's big wooden desk, hissing silently at the sudden pressure and weight on his foot, and slowly hobbles his way to the door, chuckling sadly to himself for walking like an old man.

But Break's question seem to have came out of nowhere, and it was confusing, what was there to discuss with Gilbert? Wasn't it _his _outting?

Oz shakes his head at the thought.

This was more serious than he thought it was.

Just as Oz turns the corner from Break's office door, he easily spots Gilbert seated on the wooden bench beside a barred window, nervously wringing his hands together like he was just doing inside the therapists office. He flashes a charming smile at the curious looking security guard and thumbs into the direction of the doorway. "Break wants to speak with you." he easily announces.

Gilbert tilts his head to the side in confusion, but nods his head. "I'll go see him." He announces as he gets up from the bench to stride quickly to the therapist's office door, but then stops and smiles small down at Oz. "It'll be alright..." He says quietly as he gently runs his hand through the blonde locks of Oz.

And Oz couldn't help but smile at his bodyguard as he nods his head in reply. But soon he drops the delighted smile just as Gilbert enters the office and sighs heavily in frustration. This morning was turning out to be more of a hassel then he thought he was going to be, and right when it was turning out great too.

He thought that Break would easily let him out, if it was to go see his sister, but Break suddenly changed his mind, all because of what happened lastnight. Sure Oz understood the gravity of the situation, it was dangerous letting him out after an episode as big as the one lastnight, but Oz was feeling fine! He had a good nights sleep inside Gilbert's arms, he felt refreshed and energetic than usual. So just what is the problem?

Oz sits on the bench, crosses his leg over the other and laces his hands behind his head as he stares up at the cieling in thought.

"Good morning." Calls a voice from beside Oz.

Oz blinks out of his thoughts and turns his head in the direction of the voice, to see Vincent standing by the bench he was sitting on, and with a smile plastered across his handsome face.

Oz flashes him a grin as he sits upright and pats the seat beside him. "Good morning Vincent, you can sit down if you like." He offers happily as he scooches over on the bench to make room for the blonde-haired man.

Vincent shakes his head as he puts up a hand at the offer. "No thank you, I have somewhere else to be right away. I just wanted to know if you were still able to go out today." Vincent asks, he tilts his head to the side and stares at Oz apologetically. "I heard about what happened lastnight...Are you feeling well today?"

Oz lowers his gaze shamefully, but then smiles sadly and shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know if Break will let me out because of what happened...But I told him I'm feeling fine! I think he just wants to keep an eye on me, like I'm some experimental rat." He hisses scounrfully. But then slaps a hand over his mouth and stares wide eyed at a rather shocked looking Vincent. "I didn't mean that, it's his job, I know it is...It's just frustrating." he sighs heavily and leans his head back against the bench.

Vincent smiles broadly and nods his head. "I understand. It's a bit frustrating. Going through this and that, just to see if your elegable to go out again in the public eye again...But believe me when I say this Oz, it feels a lot better, once you get used to it." Vincent declares earnestly.

Oz peeks up him curiously and tilts his head to the side. "I never realized this before, but Vincent, you seem normal...Stable, and completely sane. Why are you in here still?"

Vincent shrugs his shoulders with a smile. "I guess I just gotten used to this whole routine. I enjoy my stay here. I've become friends with the specialists and nurses, that I just didn't have the heart to leave this all behind." He gives Oz another charming smile as he walks towards the teen to pat his head softly. "So don't get frustrated over things such as this, people go through so much worse, you have it easy." He says softly, he strokes the boy's hair, but then lets his hand glide ever so softly down the boy's forehead to cup his face in his hand. "Keep a calm and level head Oz, that's very admirable in a person."

Oz's body quakes under his soft and earnest gaze, his limbs go immobile, and his heart starts to hammer erradically inside his chest. "Vincent...?" He whispers softly, his hand reaching up towards Vincent's hand at his face, and delicately he trails his fingertips across the warm hand tenderly. _'He always does this...And he always makes me feel better...Does he...?'_

Vincent's eyes go uncharacteristically wide at the soft touch of the teenage boy's hand and unwittingly, his legs begin to shake at the mere touch of Oz's hand upon his, he draws his hand away with a shocked expression and holds his hand close to his chest. His movements were much too fast, too questionable, as though he's been physically affected by Oz's touch. As though it burned him.

Oz's eyes go wide in fear, and he quickly gets up from the bench. "I-I didn't mean to-" He was about to say "I didn't mean to touch you so casually" but he was cut off in his sentence when Vincent shot him a dazzling smile and a shake of his blonde-head.

"It's quite alright Oz, I shouldn't have gotten so close to you. It's an odd habit of mine...When I'm around such amazing people." Vincent lies, he goes and pats the boy on the head one last time before he turns and leaves. "I'll see you later Oz." He calls from over his shoulder.

"O-okay!" Oz calls, waving his hand at the retreating figure of Vincent. "I'll catch ya later!" He smiles. Just as Vincent turns into another hallway and out of sight of Oz, the blonde-haired teen crumples and falls back into the bench behind him.

He softly traces his fingertips over the side of his face, where Vincent once put his hand on, and smiles softly at the memory. _'It's an odd habit of mine, when I'm around such amazing people...' _Oz repeats Vincent's words, and he couldn't help but sigh at those words. _'I'm not amazing...He's the one who's amazing...' _Thought Oz with an impish little grin. _'He always knows what to say at the exact right time...'_

He drops his hand hurriedly from his face when he notices Gilbert exiting from Break's office, with none other but a grinning Break at his side.

Oz gets up from the bench with a small smile. "So? What's the verdict?"

Break smiles joyfully. "Well, we got a talking, and under these circumstances, I'm allowing Gilbert to go out with you." Break says happily.

Oz beams an grin full of excitment.

"But you always have to be at Gilbert's side." Break quickly deadpans, with a serious facial expression. "And if he so much as loses sight of you, he will have to call my office, and I will then have to send Pandora security guards after you." Break easily announces with a waggle of his finger, but then with a broad smile as he throws his hands up in the air above his head. "Isn't that great news?" He smiles, going over to sling his arm over Oz's shoulders to poke the boy in the cheek with his finger. "Isn't it?" He presses.

Oz flinches at the casual one armed hug, but then smiles happily and nods his head fast. "Thank you so much Break! I promise I won't go out of sight of Gilbert!"

"And you'll stay beside him the entire day?" Break presses his finger harder into the boy's soft cheek threateningly.

And Oz squeaks at the finger now digging into his face and quickly he nods his head. "Yes! I promise I'll stay beside him the entire day!" He nearly shouts for the whole hospital to hear.

"Great!" Break happily replies as he goes and skips back to Gilbert's side.

Gilbert smiles and chuckles lightly under his breath. "Well, since it's..." he trials off, looking down to the leather wrist-watch. "Twenty minutes to 12 o'clock. I guess we should feed you here, just so you can take your medications, then the rest of the day is yours Oz." Gilbert announces with a smile.

Oz brightens up with joy at that mere announcement and swiftly he walks towards his bodyguard and wraps his arms tightly around Gil's stomach, considering that Oz barely reached the middle of Gilbert's chest, and he grins in delight.

"I can't wait! Thanks so much you guys!" Oz thanks wholeheartedly as he quickly releases his hold on Gilbert as he spins in a happy little circle and merrily he skips down the hall, ahead of the two behind him, in a fit of gleeful giggles.

Gilbert looks at the retreating figure of the overly happy teenage boy with a small smile. "Your welcome..." Gilbert says softly, hand held to his chin with a smile.

Break rolls his eyes and slaps the security guard on the shoulder. "And already your letting him out of your sight." He growls.

Gilbert quickly snaps into action and swiftly follows after the boy. "W-wait for me Oz!" He shouts to the skipping boy down the hallway.

Break chuckles with an exasperated smile. "Watch him carefully when your in the prescence of your conviving brother Gilbert." Break whispers the warning to himself. A frown steadily taking over the smile from his face. "Whatever Vincent is planning, concerns both you and Oz right now..." He trails off. With a shake of his white-head, he sighs heavily under his breath and retreats to his office, before he was assulted with any further interuptions.

Also known as, nurses.

* * *

12:40 P.M

With Oz fed, and with his medications and vitamins all taken, and with the teenager packed and ready to go, Gilbert stood by his car door with a cigarette in hand and currently waiting for his younger brother to take the passenger seat.

Oz stuck his head out of the window from behind Gilbert's driver's seat, and pouts at the ring of smoke Gilbert was making in the warm wind of the Alanta September air. "You can get cancer smoking those." Oz pipes up from the window.

Gilbert looks down to the window, to see a pouting Oz peeking his head out from within the car. He smiles with the wave of his hand dismissively. "I know that, but it's too late to quit now." He replies with the shrug of his shoulders.

Oz quirks an eyebrow up at his bodyguard. "How is it too late?"

"I'm hooked on them." Gilbert answers, with another shake of his shoulders. "I got used to them after smoking for 5 years, that I just couldn't find a reason to quit."

"What about me?" Oz asks.

Gilbert sputters and quickly looks back down to Oz with a surprised facial expression. "Wha-what do you mean, 'what about me?'" He repeats.

Oz shrugs. _'Is it too soon to bring up the...Kiss...?' _He asks himself inside his head, but then sighs heavily and leans against the car door with a small smile, he decided then that he wouldn't bring up the kiss at all. Instead, he would continue playing the roll of "best friend", at least until Gilbert figured out whether or not he wanted to be with him at all.

"I _am _your best friend Gilbert, I want to see you live to be an old man, and if you continue smoking, you decrease your chances of surviving. And I don't like seeing you smoke, it ruins the 'kind' and 'adorable' image you have going on." Oz replies with a teasing smirk.

Gilbert merely growls in offence as he hides the blush away with his hand and takes another drag from his cigarette. _'He didn't bring up the...K-kiss...Yet...I wonder if it was too soon..? Did I act too umpulsively?''_

"Hello you two." Announces a voice from the back of the car.

Oz looks behind his shoulder out of the window and over to the tailgate of the car, to see Vincent already throwing his duffle bag into the trunk of Gilbert's SUV. "Vincent!" Oz greets happily. "I get to visit today after all!" He announces to the blonde-haired man.

Who looks towards him with a smirk. "That's good to hear Oz." Vincent states, shutting the SUV's trunk with vigor as he goes and pets Oz on the head softly. "I'm glad you're able to make it out. It would've seemed wrong if only Gilbert, Ada, and I were able to go out today."

"Would you have stayed, if I did?" Oz teases smirking up at Vincent just as the blonde-haired man took his hand away to lightly poke him the middle of his forehead.

"Of course." Vincent easily replies, inwardly smirking at being able to fool the teenage boy below him, who is smiling brightly up at him with a happy little giggle escaping his lips. Vincent wanted to roll his eyes at the behavior of the boy, but smiles one last time at Oz instead, before he turns around to face Gilbert, who is scowling at his shoes below. Vincent tilts his head to the side and bumps into his brother with his elbow lightly.

When Gilbert felt the light nudge in his side, he looks beside him to see Vincent standing there with a small smile plastered across his face.

"Are you ready to go Brother?" Vincent asks.

Gilbert nods his head, takes on last inhale from his cigarette, then throws is on the ground where he drags his shoe against the burning cigarette and butts it out. "Let's get going, we gotta pick up Ada from her apartment." Gilbert announces, mostly to himself as a reminder, as he heads into the driver's seat.

Vincent takes the passenger seat and buckles his seatbelt with ease, then he looks over his shoulder to smile at Oz. "Are you excited to see your sister again, Oz?"

Oz nods his head fast. "Yes! I actually...Made something for her..." Oz mumbles, trying hard to make his voice soft and unnoticeable.

Vincent tilts his head to the side with a smile. "Well, what did you make?"

Oz shakes his head. "I...Actually don't want to give it to her now." Oz frowns, holding the paper closer to his side inside the car.

"Why not? I bet she would like anything you give her." Gilbert says, looking briefly into the rearview mirror, before looking back to the parking lot in front of him, he had to go through three security checks and gates before they were all allowed out of the grounds of the hospital.

Oz shrugs his shoulder. "It's just a picture I made during journal time yesterday." Oz announces, slowly sliding the paper away from his side, and timidly hands it over to Vincent.

Who takes the paper with a small smile and looks down to the page that was obviously ripped out from the boy's journal paper. And when he lays his eyes upon the art work, he felt his insides churn at the sight, it was a picture of a bunny, a stuffed rabbit that he was very familiar with. It had a ribbon around it's plush neck tied into a bow, button eyes, and it wore a dress shirt. It was Alice's favorite toy, he grew very familiar with it during his time inside the hospital, and all he wanted to do when laying his eyes on the piece of work that Oz had drew, was rip it up into pieces, and burn it till nothing left of it existed.

How he hated that damn stuffed animal, how he hated and loathed all types of stuffed creatures.

"It's stupid isn't it?" Oz pipes up from behind Gilbert's shoulder, peering curiously at Vincent who was taking long in adimiring it, either he liked it very much, or he was looking at all of the mistakes he had did while drawing the stuffed bunny.

Vincent took the art away from his face, and quickly he replaces the menacing glare with a bright smile and a tilt of his head. "I like it very much Oz, it's adorable. I'm sure Ada would love it."

"You think?" Oz asks nervously, taking his art from within Vincent's hand with a skeptical look to his expression.

Vincent merely chuckles at the sight and nods his head. "You look skeptical now, but when Ada see's it, she'll practically be jumping for joy at your amazing talent."

"It's no talent..." Oz replies timidly, a embarassed blush creeping upon his soft features.

"Nonesense, it's beautiful Oz, would you draw me something sometime?" Vincent asks. "Maybe a flower? I like those very much." He announces with a small chuckle.

Gilbert glances from Vincent, to Oz, who was still situated just behind his right hand shoulder blade, then he looked back to the road. Their expressions...They both looked happy. And for some odd reason, it hurt Gilbert knowing that they were happy together. They were joking together, spending time together more often as well, and they had become great friends during their stay inside the hospital, and they were now, exchanging meaningful and happy conversations that had nothing to do with Gilbert at all, and that to Gilbert...couldn't have made him feel more uncomfortable and...Jealous. And as much as he hated that word, he had to admit that he was feeling the unbearable emotion inside of him at that very moment.

And he had to shake his head at himself. _'Oz isn't mine...I shouldn't be jealous...' _He repeats inside his head.

"I would love to draw a picture of a flower for you!" Oz exclaims excitedly. "Do you really think my doodling is that good?" Oz asks, looking eagerly back to the picture in his hand with a smile.

Vincent nods his head in affirmation. "Of course its beautiful Oz!" Vincent states, pointing a finger to the disgusting rabbit's ears. "You see the fine precision and shading you did around here? It's amazing, even I wasn't able to shade that good when I was your age."

"Wow, I didn't know you knew these kinds of things Vincent." Oz remarks, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Well, I'm skilled in art myself. I did a lot of the art pieces inside the inpatient dorm building." Vincent announces, oddly proud as he states to Oz about his small accomplishments.

Oz smirks mischevously. "Ohh? So that's who's art work I'm jealous of!" he states with a giggle as he pats the man on his shoulder with a smile. "You're an amazing artist Vincent. Can you teach me how to draw like that sometime?" Oz asks, gently putting his art work on the seat beside him as he squishes closer and situates himself between the driver's seat and the passengers seat with a grin.

Inwardly, Gilbert was growling at the sudden close proximity the two blonde's have, if Oz got any closer, he would practically be sitting in between them.

Vincent smiles broadly. "Why not? I would like that." _'Gives me more time with him...' _He states dangerously inside his head.

"Awesome! Thanks Vincent!" Oz exclaims.

And his next move, made all three of them surprised at the action, including Oz himself.

The blonde-haired teen quickly reached over to grab Vincent's sleeve in his hand as he nuzzles the older man's arm in some sort of hug. He surprised the hell out of himself from the action.

Gilbert sharply turns the wheel in his surprise, which caused the two blonde-haired individuals to bump into each other further, and caused Oz's head to land squarely in the middle of Vincent's ribs.

"Oof!" Oz shouts, quickly removing himself from the blonde-haired mans ribs with a bright blush. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-Gilbert! Why did you turn sharply?" Oz hisses, lightly smacking the driver in the shoulder.

Gilbert blushes brightly and apologizes profusely. Then he starts to chuckle, and soon the light chuckling turns into a full on guffaw of a laugh.

Oz merely smiles at the raven-haired driver and laughs lightly along with him. "I'm sorry I head-butted you in the ribs Vincent." Oz laughs, lightly patting the blonde-haired man on the shoulder.

Vincent only chuckles. "It's alright, it was Gilbert's fault anyways." Vincent states, immaturely sticking his tongue out at the disgruntled looking driver.

Oz's eyes go wide at the sight of Vincent's tongue and quickly he sits up and points at Vincent's tongue. "You got a tongue ring!" Oz exclaims in surprise. "That's so cool! Did it hurt?"

Gilbert rolls his eyes at Oz's over-fascination with every little thing Vincent has. It irked him to know that Oz was so amazed at everything Vincent says, does, or acts, because he knew full well that his brother was very interesting, more so than he ever was-or hoped-to become. He would never be like his brother, doesn't even compare to his brother. And it bothered him knowing that he was so Goddamn jealous of his brother's easy going behavior towards Oz, which he is still not able to do even after spending a whole month at Oz's side, he knew that he will never be able to talk so casually and happily with Oz...Even if he and Oz had shared something intimate inside the boy's bathroom...Because both the blondes always found something interesting to talk about, they always had something to say to one another, and it weighed heavily on Gilbert's mind, knowing that he can't even compare to his younger brother in more ways than one.

The drive to Ada's apartment then, was filled with conversation between Vincent and Oz, and their conversations were about anything, and everything.

And Gilbert sat silently behind the steering wheel, constantly clenching the poor steering wheel in his hands in both anger, and jealously.

"Thank you so much Oz!" Ada exclaims, tightly holding onto the drawing of the cute bunny rabbit inside her hands as she then made a grab at Oz's sleeve and pulls him into a warm embrace.

"Ada!" Oz squirms in embarassment. "Your...Boobs!" He whispers harshly, still trying to break free of his sister's stronghold on his torso. So instead of getting mad, or embarassed, like he usually did, he merely smirks deviously and pokes his sister in her big boob with a loud. "Hya!"

Ada screams in fright at the touch and quickly unwraps her arms in a huff. "I told you not to do that in public Oz! People stare..." She whispers her scolding as she pouts down at her brother.

Oz merely smiles happily at the casual scolding and wraps his arm around his sisters small waist and pulls her to his side. "Let's get going, Vincent and Gilbert are already waiting down stairs in the front!" He exclaims, pointing down the hall inside Ada's apartment building.

"Vincent came too?" Ada squeaks in surprise.

Oz quirks an eyebrow up at his sister nervousness and smiles reassuringly. "Of course Ada, you're the only reason why he bothered to come out of the hospital today, including me." He states proudly, thumbing his chest.

"Vincent came out because you were too?" Ada asks in surprise as her eyebrows fly to her hairline.

Oz shakes his head with a scoff. "Came out because of me? Pff! No." He states with a smirk. "He came out because of _you_, and _you're _the only reason why I'm out too." He announces, nudging his sister lightly in her side with a smile. "So be happy Vincent is here, and don't be all quiet and shy either...I know that Vincent likes his women to be strong." He says with a nod of his head.

"And how could you possibly know that?" Ada whispers harshly as she averts her eyes to the floor, blushing brightly.

Oz shrugs uncaringly with a smirk. "It's just a hunch." he easily replies.

_'And because he says he admires mature people...' _Thought Oz, smiling small at the little memory of him and Vincent inside the hallway just that morning. _'Keep a calm and level head Oz, that's very admirable in a person.' _Oz repeats the exact words that Vincent had said to him that day.

"So keep a calm and level head Ada, I think Vincent likes that in people." Oz states, looping his arm within the crook of Ada's arm as they both head down the stairs towards the apartment buildings front doors, the both of them easily forgetting about the fact that Oz was ever inside the hospital, and easily forgetting all about their little troubles in life as they mainly focused on what was now taking place, and just who it was that they were with on that bright and sunny day.

* * *

_I'm back Bitches! XD (I'm sorry...You guys aren't)_

_But anywhoo!~ This isn't the longest chapter, but it did come up to 5,952 words, second longest I think..._

_How do you guys like it so far? More interacting with Vincent and Oz, Gil is jealous, Ada is oblivious to it all, and Break is just a good person to keep this...Thing...A secret! I was wondering if I should post this onto FFnet...I didn't really like it at all, but I kept deleting and deleting other versions of this chapter, and this one came out the smoothest. Oz in m opinion, is back to being a tad bit OOC -.- and I'm sorry for that!_

_Anyways, hope you guys like the chapter either way :) Excuse my Oz._

_I'm also sorry if you see a few mistakes here and there, I tried my best to see them and correct them all, and if I didn't, I really need a beta :L_

_-Hella_

P.S: I also forgot to say...THANK YOU ALL FOR THOSE AMAZING REVIEWS! I finally had time to answer them, and I'm sorry this chapter took sooo long! Tah!


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